Prophecy Repeated
by brigrove
Summary: As the world grows darker again, Harry is called back to Hogwarts for an unexpected meeting and learns that another prophecy has been made and another young boy has to face the challenge of being the Chosen One. And his new "daughter" is at risk
1. Chapter 1

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter one. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**To anyone who has been on another planet since 1997, this is to let you know that Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**Author's note...**

**This is set some years after the epilogue.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It started as an owl crashed into the front window. Harry got up to open it and a slightly dazed and very young owl flew into the room.

"Hello. You're new. Who are you?"

"It should be called Errol," laughed Ginny, from where she was sitting. "It's almost as bad."

"Don't you listen to the mean lady," said Harry, trying not to laugh himself. "Let's see what you've got for me..." The tone of his voice changed as he said, "It's from Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?"

"Yes. Why would they be writing to me?"

"If you open it you'll find out," replied Ginny dryly.

"Alright funny," then, talking to the owl again, he added, "she's got no patience these days."

"I used it up waiting for you for all those years."

"Touché."

"Well, are you going to open it?"

Harry did so. "It's from the headmaster, asking if I would be good enough to go to his office this afternoon."

"Why?"

"It doesn't say"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When Harry and Ginny flooed into the headmaster's office that afternoon, they were immediately surprised to see Professor McGonagall there. She said, "Forgive me for not getting up. Old age comes to us all eventually."

"That's alright, Professor," said Harry quickly.

"Harry. It's good to see you again. It's been too long."

Harry turned to the man who had spoken. "Headmaster. So how can I help you?"

"Well, er, you know how things are going. Well, we had a meeting and... perhaps this would be better coming from Professor McGonagall as you know her better."

"Passing the buck?" asked Ginny with a cheeky tone of voice that reminded Harry of when she was a teenager.

It obviously reminded Professor McGonagall of the same thing as she smiled and said, "You'll have to forgive Professor Taylor. He was in Ravenclaw, not in Gryffindor. Please sit down Harry." She quickly conjured another chair beside the one she had directed Harry to. "And you, Ginny."

When they had sat down, she began. "The world is turning dark again as you well know. Many of the reforms brought in by Mrs. Weasley are being overturned. People are beginning to be scared to speak out for fear of being next to be hounded out of a job."

"What has this got to do with Harry?" asked Ginny.

"The headmasters have had a meeting." At that she nodded at the portraits. "We fear that it will not be long before the Minister becomes a new dark lord. If that happens almost all opposition will collapse. There must be somewhere that stands upright."

"So?"

"You probably know that Headmaster Taylor is retiring at the end of this term. Hogwarts needs another leader who can stand and guide it through the war that is bound to come."

"What has this got to do with me?" asked Harry.

"We have unanimously decided to ask you to take over as Headmaster of Hogwarts when Headmaster Taylor retires."

"There is another reason," added Professor Dumbledore from his portrait. "If you are headmaster, your portrait will be hung here after you die, and you will be able to guide those in the future who face dark times like these."

"Harry's done enough," protested Ginny. "It's someone else's turn to stick their neck out."

"But Ginny, sorry, Mrs. Potter," said Professor Dumbledore. "Is there anybody else? That is what we have had to ask ourselves. Please think about it, that's all we ask."

"At least I have a choice this time. There's no prophecy that says I have to."

"No."

"Why do I sense a 'but' in there somewhere?"

"There is a prophecy, made by Professor Trelawny before she died last month," said the professor. "Don't worry, it's not about you."

"Can I hear it?"

"It was made when Neville was visiting her to check how she was," explained Professor McGonagall "His memory is in the pensieve."

Harry and Ginny both bent over the silver liquid...

"And the darkness shall rule once more.

But one shall stand, who now has lived ten years,

Thrice returned from the dead,

From out of the dark, he shall battle the darkness,

Saved from himself, he and the golden one,

Four shall fight but only one survive."

"I assume that makes more sense to you than it does to me?" asked Harry.

"I'm sure it will become evident as time goes on," said Professor Dumbledore.

"The point is," said the headmaster, "whoever it is will almost certainly be coming to Hogwarts next year. And we cannot think of anyone more suited to protect and guide him."

"When we figure out who it is, am I to tell him about the prophecy?" asked Harry.

Ginny gasped, realising that Harry had already decided. "Harry James Potter, don't you DARE accept this job without us at least talking about it."

"Think about it, Ginny. Another boy with a prophecy and a job he can't escape. At least I had Dumbledore. I have to help him."

"And what about 'four shall fight but only one survive'?"

"I don't know, Ginny. I just know I can't abandon him when I know I can help."

Ginny sighed. "I know. I know."

"The announcement will be made officially next week," said the headmaster. "If you want to come the last week of term to get acquainted with the job..."

"Thank you. I will try not to let you all down."

"You never have, Mr. Potter. You never have," said Professor McGonagall quietly.

Author's note: I know this is a short chapter but it just seemed appropriate to end the chapter at this point.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter two. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**To anyone who has been on another planet since 1997, this is to let you know that Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Their children now grown up, Harry has been asked to take the job of headmaster of Hogwarts as fears grow that the Minister of Magic is growing into a new Dark Lord.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The girl didn't even scream as her father hit her again. She'd long since given up begging him to stop and she'd learned that the more she screamed, the longer it went on.

This time seemed worse than usual. She'd known it was going to happen, the moment she heard the door slam. Even as he'd entered her room, she'd been able to smell the beer on his breath.

She'd not even bothered to hide. The last time she tried hiding under the bed she was sure that he'd broken her arm as he'd dragged her out. The only thing she couldn't understand was that it wasn't broken when she went to school in the morning, just like all the cuts and bruises always healed before she went out to school.

It meant that nobody had believed her when she broke down in class and finally told a teacher what he father did to her. So she'd been beaten for that as well.

Feeling sick and dizzy from all his punches, she was only vaguely aware as he threw her through the air. She landed on the corner of her desk and a sudden sharp pain went through her as the force of her landing felt like it broke her in two.

Her father was coming at her again, this time with something in his hands. The intense pain from her back had made her so scared and the last thing she knew was a sudden light as her father flew away from her, hitting the door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ginny was reading the Prophet. Of course it had a full page feature on Harry being chosen as headmaster of Hogwarts. The comment from the Minister was polite, but it was easy to see that the prospect didn't please him. From the arguments he and Harry had had in the Wizengamot she knew there was no love lost between them.

Harry apparated into the room and, as she always did, she ran to hug him to welcome him home. But then she saw his face. It looked shocked.

"Harry?" He didn't answer. "Harry? What's wrong?" ... "Harry, you're scaring me."

"They're dead. Oh Merlin, Ginny, you're going to hate me."

"Who?"

Harry clung to her, now standing strong, much more like the Harry she knew. "Gin. Deatheaters attacked the Burrow."

"There aren't any deatheaters anymore."

"There obviously are now," he said bitterly. He led Ginny to the sofa and sat down. "The dark mark appeared over the Burrow today. When an auror was sent to investigate, he found your Mum and Dad. They'd been killed."

"Merlin! No."

"It's worse."

"How can it be worse?"

"There was a note with their bodies. To me. It said it was a warning and that all my friends would be a target if I became headmaster at Hogwarts."

"Oh, Harry."

"I'm sorry, Gin."

She rounded on him, angry through her tears. "Don't you DARE say that. You didn't do this."

"I don't know what to do, Gin."

"You'll take this job, that's what you'll do."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bill had called a Weasley family meeting, just Ginny and all her brothers. For some reason Bill had also invited Hermione.

"So, Ron. You're privy to the investigation," he began. "Can you tell us any more?"

"No. It was instant, we know that. They weren't tortured or anything beforehand."

Ginny felt herself gasp, then let out a sigh of relief.

"So what do we do about Harry?" Bill asked.

"What about Harry?" Ginny asked angrily.

"Ginny. If the note is true, and Harry takes up his post, all our families are targets. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want that. We went through enough losing Fred last time."

If Ginny was shocked by her brother's attitude, George was more so. "Don't you use Fred as an excuse for this. He'd hex you into next year if he heard you."

"Ginny," asked Bill. "You've got to persuade him to step down. For our families' sakes."

"He wanted to," she admitted, "until I told him not to."

Bill glared at her. "I might have known."

"Bill, there's another prophecy... I can't say any more," she added quickly.

Bill turned to Hermione. "Hermione, I asked you to come. Surely you can persuade Harry. I know Ron won't even try, but he'll listen to you."

Hermione's eyes glistened with tears as she looked at Ginny. "I can't ask him to be less than he is."

To everyone's surprise, including Ginny's, there was a rustle of fabric and Harry appeared at the door as he took off his invisibility cloak.

"You can stop arguing. All of you. I'm not taking the job unless you all agree. You're the ones at risk."

"Harry," Ginny began to protest.

"Harry Potter!" Everyone turned. The shout had come from Percy. "Don't you DARE do that. Those... killed Mum and Dad to make you do exactly that. If you step down, they died for nothing. I know nobody cares much what I think, but Mum and Dad would be ashamed."

Everybody had shifted uncomfortably. But Percy continued. "I was wrong not to support you all the way through the last war..."

"It's okay, Percy. You came through in the end," Harry pointed out.

"That's not the point. I was wrong last time and I'm not going to be wrong this time. Like it or not, Harry, you're needed. You think I want my family attacked? Of course not. But if a new Dark Lord comes, none of us will be safe anyway. Harry, you must do this. It's not worth much, but I promise I will support you one hundred per cent."

"Thank you Percy," Ginny said quietly and got up and hugged him.

"Fred's never going to forgive me for saying this," said George, "But Percy's right."

"What do you say Charlie?" asked Bill,looking at the only brother who hadn't spoken.

"I'm sorry, Bill. I agree with Percy."

"You're outvoted, Bill," said Ron.

"This isn't a vote," Harry said firmly. "I said I won't do it unless you all agree and I meant it."

Ginny started to say something to Bill.

"Ginny, shut up." She looked startled at Harry. "I'm not having any of you trying to persuade him, is that clear?"

"They don't need to," said Bill heavily. "Fleur would kill me if I stopped you, not to mention what Gabrielle would do to me." Everyone smiled at that. Gabrielle had never lost her hero-worship of Harry, something which still embarrassed him. "As it is, if Fleur knew what I'd said, she wouldn't let me near her for a week. You have my support, Harry."

"Bill," said George. Everyone waited for some tease that didn't come. "This isn't like you. Why did you really want to stop Harry?"

"Fleur's pregnant again."

"She can't be," said Hermione. "She's too old."

"Not for a veela apparently," Bill replied. "But the healers are worried about her because of her age. They don't think it's going to be an easy pregnancy."

"We'll protect her," said Charlie. "If necessary, can't you take her out of the country?"

"I don't think she'll let me," Bill sighed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The funeral was short and somber. The brothers had asked Harry to speak.

"Apart from being shown through the barrier at King's Cross, my first real memory of Molly was her exploding at Ron and the twins for rescuing me from the Dursleys. I was used to angry frightening adults, but never had one suddenly turned round and hugged me before."

George and Ron found themselves laughing at the memory.

"From that moment on, both your mother and father treated me like another son and made me a part of your family. They, and all of you, gave me the strength and the will to defeat Voldemort. Without them and your family, I would never have known love and Voldemort would still be here. I know I put them through pain at times, but they never once held it against me. They showed me how to be a family, and your father showed me how to be a father, even if he never got over his fascination with my knowledge of muggles."

Hermione and Ginny laughed loudest at that. Hermione had also been a target for Arthur's many questions.

"I was going to say how sorry I was that they were killed because of their association with me, but Ginny told me not to, unless I wanted to be the first Hogwarts headmaster to be hexed by his own wife at the welcoming feast."

More laughter. Harry glanced down, to see his wife mouth the words "You wait," through her tears.

"I could go on for hours about the past, and what they meant to me and to all of us, but neither Arthur nor Molly would want that. They would want us to look forward, so I will just say this, Arthur, Molly, I promise you I will not allow your deaths to be in vain."

He paused for a moment.

"Please don't let this go any further, but you all deserve to know why they died. Ginny let slip that there is another prophecy. That is true. As I was prophesied to defeat Voldemort, there is another child out there somewhere, destined to defeat the new dark lord that is rising. Dumbledore and the other heads asked me to become headmaster to guide him and to ensure that Hogwarts continued to stand against the darkness. I promise to Arthur and Molly and to all of you, that I will do that."

Afterwards he said to Ginny, "They deserved better than a secret funeral with just family. They should have been treated as heroes."

"They wouldn't have cared," replied Ginny. "They never did. The people they loved were there, that's all that would have mattered to them."

"Did I say the right thing?"

"Of course. Mum especially would want us to look ahead, not back."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next few days were a whirlwind, setting up wards at the homes and workplaces of all the Weasleys.

Bill had been correct that Fleur refused to leave, so when he returned home one night he was surprised to find her packing.

"Harry asked me to go," she explained. "He's asking all the families to go."

"And you agreed?"

"I don't want to go," she admitted, "but he said, if I didn't, he didn't think the others would, and he doesn't want to have to worry about all the Weasleys."

"How long for?"

"Until it's over. It could be years. We're going to be staying at Beauxbatons."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Don't try that trick on me," shouted Ginny angrily. "I bet you told all the wives that the others wouldn't go if they didn't."

His guilty look told her she'd been correct.

"Harry. You're right to get everyone you can to safety. But you need me. We can live at Hogwarts, there's nowhere safer."

"Even there isn't safe," Harry pointed out.

"If Hogwarts falls, nowhere will be safe, here, Beauxbatons, or anywhere. You left me behind before Harry. You are not doing it this time."

Harry's silence told her he wasn't happy, but she knew she'd won the argument.

An embarrassed cough made her look to the fireplace.

"I'm, er, sorry to disturb you," said a very young sounding witch.

"It's okay. What is it?"

"Could you come to St. Mungo's please? It's about a child."

"I'll be right there. Harry. I have to go."

She arrived at St. Mungo's to be taken straight to the ward. A young girl was unconscious in a bed.

"What happened?"

"The Ministry detected an explosion of magic so they sent aurors. They found a man, we later determined it was her father, dead at the scene."

"Deatheaters?"

"No. It looks like he was attacking her and she released magic which flung him backwards so hard it killed him."

Ginny gasped.

"That's not the half of it. We've examined every inch of her. There's literally thousands of old bruises, bones broken so many times we couldn't even count them..."

"How did she live through all that?"

"She must have been powerful, it looks like her magic healed her each time."

"Have been?" asked Ginny, catching the significance of the healer's words.

"We think she's lost her magic. Her back is broken. We think the explosion of magic which killed her father was too much for her and she can't repair herself."

"Can you?"

"We're doing what we can, but..." she sighed heavily. "We think she may be crippled for life."

"Will she come round?"

"We think so."

"Call me when she does."

"Okay. Mrs. Potter? Will you be able to find someone to take her? Crippled and possibly non magical?"

"I'll find someone," Ginny said in a determined voice.

When she got home, she told Harry about the girl.

"Ginny. I know you've had this things about finding families for orphans ever since you learned what happened to me. But if she's non magical and crippled, who can you find to take her? Most wizards won't want her, and I bet no muggles will either."

"I know," Ginny sobbed. "But you should have seen her. So tiny. So badly hurt. Her so-called father must have nearly killed her many times. It's a wonder she's still alive. Harry. I know you've got more important things to do, but could we take her? Just for a little while? While she's getting better?"

"No," he said firmly. "That wouldn't be fair on her. To show her love for a little while. It would be better to leave her. Unless we took her permanently?"

"You'd let me? She must be so damaged, and I don't just mean her body. You'll be busy being headmaster and she's going to need so much attention and love."

"Ginny. Apart from your mother I can't think of anyone more qualified to love an unwanted child. Molly would be proud of you."

Ginny looked up at him, wondering for the thousandth time how she'd been lucky enough to have this man as her husband.

"So when do I meet my new daughter?" he asked her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter three. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**Author's note...**

**Sorry for the long delay. I've been working extra hours over Christmas and New Year. Even worse, my computer died on me, so I've been unable to do ANYTHING for weeks. Very frustrating for me too.**

**RECAP.**

**Their children now grown up, Harry has been asked to take the job of headmaster of Hogwarts as fears grow that the Minister of Magic is growing into a new Dark Lord.**

"She's so thin," was Harry's first comment when he saw the girl just a few minutes later.

Ginny nodded tearfully. She saw Harry clench his fists in anger. "He's dead."

"Who?"

"Her father. He can't hurt her any more."

Harry just nodded, then said bitterly, "Makes Dursley look like a saint, doesn't he?"

Ginny nodded. "She needs someone, Harry."

"It won't be easy. Are you sure you can cope if she is crippled? And how will she cope at Hogwarts?"

"Just look at her. I can't leave her here."

"I thought it was me who was supposed to have the thing about saving everyone?" he teased.

Ignoring his teasing, Ginny said, "I'd better go to the Ministry, to see about getting permission to take her when she's well enough."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I can manage. Somehow the name Potter seems to make things easier," she grinned.

Harry frowned.

"You not comparing yourself with the Malfoys again?"

"The way we're treated now, it's like aristocracy. I just don't want our family to think they're better than everyone else, like the Malfoys did."

"Harry, our kids aren't like that and you know it. And as for the way people treat you, it just shows they respect you. After what you did, you deserve that respect."

"Okay," Harry sighed.

"Tell you what. When I get back from the Ministry, I'll find a cupboard to lock you in, if that'll make you feel better."

The shocked look on his face made her laugh, and he found himself laughing with her.

When Ginny had left, Harry settled down in a chair to watch the girl who he knew was going to change their lives again.

He remembered that Hermione had said once, or probably more than once if he was truthful, that it was important to talk to someone who was unconscious. Not sure what to say, he began, "Hi, kiddo, it's going to be alright, you know. They haven't even told us your name yet, but you'll never have to go back, okay? We'll care for you now."

As he continued talking, feeling awkward and unsure what to say, he noticed a single tear seep out of her eye and begin to slide down her face. He leaned over to wipe it away.

The girl sat bolt upright, opened her eyes, stared at him for a moment and screamed, "Get away, get away from me."

As she carried on screaming even after Harry had backed away, the healer came running in. "What are you do...? Sorry, Mr. Potter. I think you'd better wait outside."

Harry nodded and left the healer to try to calm down the screaming girl. He was glad to see Ginny coming back.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. She woke up and started screaming. The healer asked me to stay outside."

Ginny walked in. The healer had been sitting next to the bed as the girl continued to scream. "I'll take over now," Ginny said.

"You sure?"

Ginny nodded and sat down next to the girl. The girl immediately screamed louder. Ginny turned to her and hugged her.

After a moment of surprised silence, the girl tried to punch Ginny and get away from her, but Ginny wouldn't let her go. She was scared she'd hurt her back even more. "Listen to me. You're safe now. I've got you. Nobody's going to hurt you."

The girl continued to struggle and hit out for a while, then collapsed, exhausted, in Ginny's arms.

Ginny began to stroke her hair. "It's okay now. I won't let anyone hurt you."

Slowly the girl began to calm down.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Abigail Leona Foster," the girl replied, in the automatic tone of voice used by a younger child who has just learned to say their full name.

"And how old are you, Abigail?"

"Almost nine."

"You have a very pretty name," said Ginny.

The girl pushed her away suddenly. "It's not. I hate it."

"Why?"

"At school they all call me Alf."

Ginny would have laughed but for the hurt look on the girl's face.

"Well I shall call you Abigail, or would you prefer Abi?"

"I like Gail."

"Well, Gail it shall be. My name is Ginny."

"Why can't I move properly? I want to get up."

"You've hurt your back."

"I didn't. HE did."

"You'll never have to go back to him. Don't worry."

"Really?" Abigail actually look hopeful for the first time.

"You're coming to live with me."

"Why?"

"Don't you want to?"

"I don't know."

"You can't stay in hospital forever."

"I can't move my legs."

"I know."

"You're going to be my daughter."

"Really. Why?"

Before Ginny could answer, there was a knock on the door. "Is it okay if I come in?"

"Come in Harry."

Abigail immediately looked scared again and almost screamed, "No."

"He won't hurt you, Gail. Harry is my husband."

"I don't want to live with him."

Harry looked bewildered.

"But Harry will be your father."

"Don't want father. They hurt."

"Harry won't hurt you."

Staying away from her so as not to alarm her, Harry said, "Ginny. Can I have a word?"

They stepped outside.

"The healers say we can take her. There's nothing further they can do. The nerve damage will either heal or it won't. She'll need a wheelchair for a while at least, maybe forever. They'll lend us one to take her home."

"Okay."

"Are you sure this is a good idea? She's terrified of me."

"She'll come round, when she gets to know you."

"I hope so," he sighed. I'll go and get the wheelchair."

"Harry's gone to get a wheelchair so we can take you home," Ginny told Abigail as she went back into her room.

"Do I have to?"

"What?"

"Can't I just be with you?"

"Look," snapped Ginny impatiently, then seeing the fear in Abigail's eyes, she softened her tone. "Harry was treated badly when he was a child. He would never hurt you, okay?"

Abigail nodded, still obviously scared to say anything else.

Ginny placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It'll be alright, I promise."

When Harry returned Ginny asked, "How are we getting home?"

"Portkey. Have you told Abigail about magic yet?"

"Magic?" asked Abigail. "There's no such thing as magic."

Harry couldn't help but smile, remembering when he'd been told that so long ago. Not knowing how to broach the subject, he simply repeated the question Hagrid had asked him, "Have you ever made things happen when you were scared or angry?"

Abigail seemed to be thinking for a minute. "Sometimes, when dad hurt me, I'd looked at where it hurt and it sort of burned and stopped bleeding. Like that, you mean?"

Harry felt his eyes water and reached towards her, but she was suddenly nervous again so he pulled back. "Yes, like that," he said, sadly.

"That was magic?"

"Yes. Now we're going home, your new home, and we're going to use magic to get there. Ginny will help you into the chair."

Ginny lifted Abigail into the chair, gasping at how light she was.

"I'm casting a spell to keep your back rigid so you don't get hurt," explained Harry. Now, we all hold onto this book. Ginny keep a hold of Abigail. All ready?"

"What are you going to...?" Abigail's question was cut off as portkey activated.

They landed in a heap in the garden outside their home. Abigail was screaming, a mixture of fear and excitement.

"Are you okay?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah. That was... Can we do it again?"

Ginny laughed and put Abigail into the chair then Harry released the spell on Abigail's back.

"Another day," said Harry.

To Abigail's disappointment Ginny took her straight to bed insisting that she'd had enough excitement for one day, but she'd take her something to eat later. In fact Harry took her her food but Abigail was still too scared to take it from him, so finally Ginny went up to see her.

The next day Harry had to go to Hogwarts for the last week of term. He left early each day and returned late each evening after Abigail had gone to bed.

"Harry, are you avoiding Abigail?"

"I thought I'd let her get used to you, seeing as she's so scared of me."

"She needs you as a father, Harry, even if she doesn't know it yet. If you keep avoiding her she'll never get used to you."

"It's just hard, seeing that look in her eyes every time, like she's expecting me to lash out at her."

"I'll have a word with her," replied Ginny.

"No. Don't you dare," Harry insisted. "It's not her fault she's scared."

"You know, Harry, Ron told me that you were a bit like her at first."

"How?"

"Like you couldn't believe that anyone would actually like you..."

"Yeah, well Dudley and his gang made sure of that. If anyone did like me, they scared them off."

"That's why you were convinced that everyone would leave you when you knew you had to face Voldemort, an even bigger bully."

Before Harry could reply, Ginny suddenly giggled.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just imagining Voldemort with Dudley's body calling us all freaks."

Harry laughed as well. "You always cheer me up, you know?"

"That's what I'm here for, remember?"

"And I thought it was to keep me safe from all those Veelas and adoring female fans."

"That too."

The next few weeks were taken up in preparations for moving to Hogwarts to live. Harry constant complaint of "When did we ever get so much stuff?" was usually met by Ginny picking something up that he just couldn't live without and asking sweetly if they should throw it away.

They hadn't known but the Headmaster actually had a whole suite of rooms which led off a hidden door in his office. Of course it had taken Hermione to point out that they couldn't really have expected that Dumbledore lived and slept in his office even if that was the only place they'd seen. It had taken quite a lot of magic to enlarge the suite to make room for all three of them and their things.

Their house was finally almost empty and it was time to go. Harry and Ginny had been worried about whether Abigail would be able to see Hogwarts now she'd lost her magic, but Hermione thought she would, so Harry had insisted that they take her to Hogwarts for the first time using the boats, the same as the first year's.

Ginny laughed, but thought it was sweet. "We'll never all three of us fit in one of those boats. It was your idea, you go with her Harry. I'll take a carriage with the last of our things."

Abigail was reluctant to go alone with Harry, but this time Ginny had put her foot down and even Abigail had learned already that once Ginny had made up her mind, it was not a good idea to cross her. She silently allowed Ginny to place her in the boat, then Harry sat down beside her.

"Have fun, you two," Ginny called as the single boat left the shore.

Abigail remained silent in the boat, so Harry tried to make conversation...

"I wanted you to see Hogwarts for the first time just like Ginny and I did. It's a very special place and it's beautiful, especially from the lake."

To his surprise Abigail actually answered him. "What happened to my magic?"

Trying to avoid the subject, Harry answered, "Hasn't Ginny told you?"

"Only that I lost it. She hasn't told me how my father died either, and I know it must have happened at the same time."

Harry sighed, trying to think what to say. He remembered how often he'd been kept in the dark and how annoying it had been.

"Ginny just doesn't want to upset you, but you deserve to know the truth. You know most wizard children sometimes do magic without thinking about it or controlling it?"

She nodded.

"Well, we think your magic was responsible for healing you every time your father injured you. But the last time, he hurt you so badly that it sort of exploded out of you and that's how you lost your magic."

"I killed him, didn't I? I killed my father?" Abigail's face had gone white.

She looked so distraught that it took all Harry's willpower not to try to hug her. "No. Don't you EVER think that. When your magic exploded out of you,we think it knocked your father back and he hit his head and was killed. But HE did that, not you. He was the one who hurt you that badly that your magic exploded like that. There was nothing you could have done. Don't even think about blaming yourself."

"But if I hadn't been a witch, he wouldn't have died."

"If you hadn't been a witch, he would probably have managed to kill you instead, long ago. I didn't know him, but I'm not sorry he's dead. When I saw what he'd done to you, I wanted to kill him myself."

"What will it be like at Hogwarts? For me, I mean? I'll be the only..." she paused for a moment, obviously trying to remember the word, "muggle there, won't I?"

"You'll be fine, I promise you. Nobody's gonna mess with the headmaster's daughter, are they?"

"But I'm not really your daughter, am I?"

"I wish you were," Harry sighed.

"Why?"

"Because then you wouldn't have had to suffer like you have." Harry was about to blurt out a suggestion of adopting her, when his thoughts were shattered by a squeal.

"Wow! Is that Hogwarts?"

They'd rounded the cliffs and could see Hogwarts in all it's glory for the first time.

"Yes darling. Welcome to our new home."

"It'll take me a year just to explore it."

Harry smiled, "Especially with the staircases."

She looked puzzled.

"They move."

"They move? Staircases can't move."

"These can. You'll see."

Abigail went quiet again, but this time her face was filled with wonder as they grew nearer to Hogwarts. Harry mentally thanked Hermione for being right about Abigail being able to see Hogwarts.

At the little harbour under the castle, Ginny was waiting for them. "It's brilliant," exclaimed Abigail.

They walked through the castle together, to Ginny's surprise Abigail allowed Harry to carry her. "I thought the stairs were supposed to move," said Abigail, looking a little disappointed.

Ginny laughed. "They only do it to catch you out, never when you're just waiting for them to move."

They'd reached the Gargoyle and Harry said loudly, "Sherbert Lemon," which made Ginny laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Abigail as the gargoyle split in two allowing them to pass.

"Tell you later," whispered Harry as he stepped onto the spiral staircase which took them upwards.

Ginny led Abigail to her room and she squealed with delight at the view of the mountains. Turning to hug Ginny she exclaimed, "It's beautiful."

"Oh Harry, Hermione's waiting to see you. She's in the library."

"Where else?" Harry grinned, putting Abigail in her chair, which had been ready for her.

Harry made his way to the library and Hermione smiled up at him as he entered.

"Where's Ron?" he asked her.

"Checking out the quidditch pitch for old times sake," she answered.

"Thank you both for coming. You didn't have to, you know."

"We've been telling you for years," she replied. "You don't have to do it all alone."

"As I've no idea who this boy is, I can't really do anything. And when I do find out, should I tell him everything at once, or not?"

"You can decide that later," she replied. "First you need to see this."

"So what have you been studying?"

"I was looking through the Hogwarts register, trying to see who would be coming here over the next few years."

"Trying to guess who the boy will be?" he asked.

"Yes," Hermione nodded.

"And?"

"I have no idea," she admitted. "But I did find this." She pointed to a page and turned it for Harry to read.

"Abigail Leona Findley. What does this mean? That she was down for being a student here. That makes sense."

"But, Harry. If a wizard child is killed or dies before they are old enough to attend, their name disappears from the register."

"So?"

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't you see? If the register updates itself, then it must mean Abigail will still be a student. That she'll get her magic back."

"Are you sure?"

"No," Hermione admitted. "I'm not."

"Then we mustn't tell Gail. I don't want to get her hopes up. Don't mention this to anyone, okay?"

"Even Ginny?"

"Hmm. You'd better tell Ginny."

"Good. I don't want her angry at me for keeping it from her."

"No, we wouldn't want that," Harry agreed. "If Gail does get her magic back, does that mean she'll be able to walk again?"

"I don't know, Harry. Before, her magic healed her over and over again, so it's possible, but I don't know."

"Stop looking so guilty," Harry said.

"What do you mean?"

"You never change. Every time you don't know something you take it as a personal failure."

Hermione laughed as she put the register away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter four. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Harry, Ginny and Abigail have moved into Hogwarts ready for the new school year.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After a long and boring day in his office making arrangements for the Hogwarts Express, Harry was met by "Have you seen Gail?" from Ginny.

"No, why?"

"She was supposed to be back an hour ago. Sometimes I could curse Hermione for giving you that charm to allow flooing just within Hogwarts."

"I'm just glad she can use them. Would you really want her stuck up here like a prisoner?"

Ginny sighed. "No, but I end up worrying every time she's out of my sight."

"You always did that with the other three."

"I guess it's a 'mum' thing. At first it wasn't so bad, she was a bit nervous of exploring, but since the kids visited there's no stopping her."

Harry laughed. "Don't let Lily hear you calling her a kid. And I thought it was sweet of James to insist on playing big brother and showing her all his old haunts here."

"I think that's what worries me," Ginny laughed. "They really took to her, didn't they?"

"Of course they did. I think it's just as well they've all gone abroad as well now, or we'd be getting visits all the time and I dread to think what they'd get up to, corrupting her."

"I don't think she needs corrupting. She can be a little monster when she wants to be. Of course she's all sweetness and light when you're around, but she's got a real temper on her."

"I can't WHO that reminds me of. I think she's still nervous of me, isn't she?"

Ginny nodded sadly. "He hurt her so much, Harry. I think it'll take a long time before she really feels safe with any man."

"In other circumstances, a father would probably be quite pleased at that."

"Dinner's nearly ready. I guess she'll miss it."

"I'll go and find her," said Harry.

"You spoil her, you know?"

"After the life she's had, I think she deserves it."

Ginny nodded sadly. "That's why I let you."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ginny, Are you ready? It's almost time for the feast."

"Almost, but Gail's not. And I told her not to go downstairs this evening until it was time for the feast."

"Oh," said Harry, heavily. "She asked me if she could watch the carriages coming up the drive and I said yes. She didn't tell me you'd already told her no."

"Grrr. When will you learn? Every time she wants permission for something that I've said no to, she goes and asks you. I wanted her to have time to get ready properly."

Harry quickly found Gail by the front door. She turned and looked guilty. "Am I in trouble?"

"Let's put it this way, I'm avoiding our suite for the next twenty minutes or so."

"I just wanted to see all the other kids arriving."

"You'll see them all at the feast, IF you're ready in time, otherwise you'll miss it."

"Okay, I'm going."

Harry stood for a while, watching the students get down from the carriages, wondering if the Thestrals knew that he could see them. He couldn't help hoping that none of his students would be able to see them in their time here.

He made his way into the great hall as the students poured in. The noise from all the chattering was incredible, going a little quieter for a few moments when they first saw him before picking up again.

He stayed seated as the first years came in. One girl had fallen in the lake, reminding him of Dennis Creevey. The girl was more fortunate as one of the teachers immediately walked over to her to cast a drying spell.

Ginny had joined him for the sorting, having strictly told Gail that she could come down when she was called for. "Tell me, Harry. Why didn't you want her here for the sorting?"

"Well, we don't really know if her magic will ever come back, do we? And it's a bit of a tradition for first years not to know what happens at sorting."

They both eagerly watched the sorting, trying to figure out who the subject of the prophecy could be.

"Who do you think?" asked Ginny.

"I have no idea," Harry admitted.

"I'm surprised the Collins boy is here."

"Political reasons no doubt. It would hardly do for the Minister's only son NOT to be educated at Hogwarts, even if he does hate me."

"No surprise he's a Slytherin is it?"

"It was a little predictable," admitted Harry.

"I'll go and get Gail now."

Ginny was back with Gail in almost no time, but the delay had led to the noise level in the hall to rise again.

Harry stood up and the noise dropped to almost nothing.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts and a special welcome to all the first years. I hope you will all enjoy your time here and hopefully learn a lot as well. I would like to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest IS forbidden. At the risk of being hexed by my own wife, I must also remind you that all Weasley joke products are also forbidden.

"Some of you probably know who I am," there was some laughter at this, "For any that don't, my name is Harry Potter. Beside me are my wife, Ginny, and the most recent addition to our family, Gail. She may be younger than all of you, but she is not a target for your jokes. And far worse than the wrath of your headmaster, Ginny still remembers every one of the hexes she was so famous for when she was a student here." More laughter, but this time it was slightly nervous.

Only a few days later Gail was shouting at Harry, "Why did you have to say all that at the feast? They're all too scared to come near me. You've ruined everything. I'll never have any friends." Angrily she tossed some floo powder into the fireplace and wheeled into the fireplace shouting "Entrance Hall".

"I was only trying to protect her," gasped Harry.

Ginny giggled. "Poor Harry. None of his women like him protecting them. Well, you wanted her to treat you normally. I guess that qualifies. You usually only see her angelic side."

"Not very angelic today," he snipped. "I suppose I'd better go and see where she's gone."

"Don't you dare, Harry. She'll be alright. She just needs to cool off."

Harry grimaced but nodded his agreement.

"Do you think I was wrong warning them not to target her?"

"No," replied Ginny. "She can't defend herself, so you had to say something. And I don't think that's why they're avoiding her."

"Why then?"

"She's younger than them. After all, you all ignored me when I came to Hogwarts and I was only one year younger than you."

Harry frowned as he remembered Ginny's first year at Hogwarts.

"Don't even think about feeling guilty. That's not what I mean. I just saying that it's natural. It's just a pity there's nobody else her age."

Gail, meanwhile, had left the Great Hall and wheeled herself down the ramp Hermione had thought to conjure by the main front steps so that she could get out into the grounds. Harry hadn't been sure that that was wise, but Ginny had sided with Hermione, and so had Ron.

Harry would have been even more worried if he'd known what was happening. Gail had taken herself down by the lake to be alone. She had already chosen that as her place to go if she was upset, so that she could be alone. She was, in fact, too upset to notice a boy watching her, and following her from a distance.

As she gazed across the lake, she felt a cold breeze and began to wish she'd brought a coat. When she felt it begin to rain, she wished it even more. She wheeled herself under a tree to protect herself from the worst of the rain, but after an hour, when the rain didn't let up, she realised she'd have to get back to the castle.

She was finding it harder and harder to push the chair through the now boggy grass and she'd only got about fifty yards when the wheels sunk enough into the mud to make it impossible to go any further.

"Damn," she swore to herself. She shouted out, trying to attract someone's attention that she needed help, but it seemed that nobody heard.

Soon she was soaked through and feeling really cold. The thin top she'd worn indoors hadn't really been warm enough to go outside, but she'd been too angry to care. Now she just felt miserable and cold and was starting to panic. She was screaming "Help!" but the wind was whipping her voice away.

By this time Ginny was beginning to worry that Gail had been gone so long and Harry had asked the prefects to help them search the castle for her and ask if anybody had seen her. Nobody had. Gail's exit had obviously been too rapid for anyone to notice.

"We'll find her, Gin," Harry said. "She can't have gone far."

But after an hour of searching, just about everywhere in the castle had been searched and Gail still hadn't been found.

Harry had then divided the castle grounds into sections and sent two prefects to search each section.

"Harry," said Ginny, in an uncharacteristically small voice. "It's getting dark. They might not even see her. What if she's hurt?"

Harry wanted to reassure her, but knew she's see straight through anything he said. "We'll just keep looking," he replied, taking Ginny's hand and giving it a squeeze.

Gail was getting really scared now as the light faded and still nobody had come. Her voice was hoarse from yelling and she was shivering violently from the cold.

Suddenly she was startled from behind. "What are you doing out here alone?"

She turned round slightly but couldn't see far enough to see who it was, but it was a boy's voice.

A hand touched her bare arm. "You're freezing. Why did you come out here?"

Struggling to find her voice, she replied, "I like looking at the lake, then it started raining. Can you take me in?"

"Sure, no problem."

He began to push hard against the chair, then let out a breath as the chair moved only slightly. "That's better, the wheels are clear of the hole now." It was still obviously a struggle as he pushed her towards the castle.

"So why didn't you go back when it first started raining?" he gasped out.

"I didn't know I'd get stuck, did I?" she snapped at him. "Sorry. I'm just cold."

"I don't have any friends either," he said.

She didn't answer him.

"I said, I don't have any friends either. Not real friends anyways."

"Why?" She asked quietly.

"They all want something. Or they're scared of my dad, like they are of yours."

"He's not really my dad," Gail answered quickly.

"Really? I didn't know," the boy replied.

By this time he managed to push her onto one of the many gravel paths. It was still difficult pushing the chair through the wet gravel, but it was a lot easier than the boggy grass.

"I'll be your friend if you like," he offered her.

"Would you?" Gail asked him.

"Yes, and you can be mine."

"Okay," she said, her voice finally a little stronger.

He had pushed her up to the kitchen door. "Can you reach the bell?"

"Yes, why?"

"I have to go."

"But why?"

"You'll be okay now."

Gail wheeled the chair around to finally see him, but he'd gone. Sadly she turned back to the kitchen door and rang the bell. It was answered by one of the castle elves.

Within a few minutes, Harry and Ginny had taken her to their quarters and Ginny had insisted on a hot bath and an early night. She'd originally said without any dinner, but Harry had pointed out that she probably needed to replenish her energy.

"I made a friend," she said as they ate.

"Who?"

"I don't know. He rescued me when my chair got stuck. He said he hasn't got any friends either."

"So why don't you know who he is?"

"He just left, when he pushed me to the kitchen door."

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know."

"I'm not sure if I like the sound of this," said Harry.

"He saved me," Gail exclaimed. "He's my friend. Maybe he's just shy or something. Don't you dare stop me having friends."

Startled by the sudden onslaught, Harry backed down. "I guess if he got you back, he can't be so bad, can he?"

Gail gave him a smile she usually saved for Ginny, so he knew he'd said the right thing.

As she turned to go to bed, she didn't notice Ginny lean across to Harry and whisper "whipped!"

Of course neither of them noticed an owl leaving the owlery unusually late. It carried a simple message. "Made contact with the Potter girl as instructed. I think she trusts me already. Send further instructions."


	5. Chapter 5

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter five. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**The year has started and Gail has a friend, or does she?**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harry's concern didn't lessen when one of the Slytherin first year girls came up to their table at breakfast the following morning to speak to Gail.

"We're going out in the gardens. Would you like to come with us?"

"Where are you going?" asked Ginny.

When the girl pointed vaguely in the direction they were planning to go, Harry said, "You're not going into the forbidden forest are you?"

The girl looked at him with shock. "No. You'd have to be crazy to go in there."

Ginny looked at Harry and stifled a laugh.

"Actually, we were going swimming in the lake before it gets too cold. Can you swim, Gail?"

"I... er, I used to be able to. I don't know now." She looked torn between wanting to go and unsure if she'd still be able to swim.

"D'you wanna come?"

Gail made up her mind and said with a grin, "Yeah. But I don't have a costume."

"One of Sally's old ones will probably fit. Ready?"

Gail nodded excitedly and the girl took her chair and began to turn Gail away towards the door. Suddenly she looked back at Harry. "Don't worry, professor. We'll love after her."

When Harry finished watching the girl leave the hall with Gail, he turned to find Ginny smirking at him.

"What?"

"You'd have to be crazy to go in there," she laughed, knowing full well how many times Harry had been in the forbidden forest.

In spite of his worry for Gail, Harry had to grin back.

"It's a good job Ron isn't here today," Ginny said. "Can you imagine his reaction at us letting Gail go swimming with a Slytherin?"

"Yeah, and then Hermione telling him not to be so prejudiced. Another one of their famous rows."

"You'd think they'd be over them by now," said Ginny.

"I think it's just part of the two of them. At least they aren't hurtful any more."

"Hmm. Yet I can't see either of them with anybody else. They just fit somehow. Hard to imagine that most people thought Hermione would get together with you."

"Eeww."

"Why? She's stunning when she wants to be."

"I know. I didn't mean it like that. It's just... Well imagine you and Ron together."

Ginny wrinkled her nose with disgust. "No, thanks."

It was Harry's turn to laugh. "Just as well I have this thing about redheads."

"Oh?" Ginny teased. "Seeing other redheads, are you? Don't let me catch you."

"Nah," said Harry lazily. "I have enough on my hands keeping up with one redhead."

"Just you remember that and we'll be fine," said Ginny, sounding more like Hermione.

"She will be okay, won't she?" asked Harry, worried again.

"Hermione? Oh. Gail. She'll be fine," Ginny assured him. "It's probably just what she needs."

"I hope you're right."

At that moment, Gail was more than fine. She and the Slytherin first years were looking at all the girls' swimming costumes trying to see which would fit her the best.

Sally had insisted on her trying on one of Michelle's swimsuits. Michelle was the girl who'd brought her from the hall and was the tallest of them. They all laughed at the way it hung on Gail.

At first Gail thought they were making fun of her, till they made Michelle try on one of Sally's. It cut into her and they could hear the fabric strain. Michelle quickly took it off as they all laughed.

Finally they found one of Sally's which wasn't much too big for Gail and, after putting their robes on directly over their costumes, they headed down to the lake. Ginny had insisted on getting Gail school robes so she wouldn't feel any more different than she already did.

"How do you get into the water?" Michelle asked Gail.

"Er. I don't know. I think you'll have to carry me."

Michelle picked her up easily. "You're really light. Don't you eat?"

Gail looked hurt.

"It's okay. We know what happened to you."

"How?"

"This is Hogwarts. If there's a secret here, everyone knows about it."

"You know... You know I killed my dad."

"Not on purpose," replied Jessica, the third of the Slytherin girls.

"If it had been me," said Michelle. "I'd have killed him, but made it slow. He should have suffered."

Gail looked sad, then puzzled. "I thought Slytherins didn't like squibs."

"You're not a squib," snapped Sally. "You're a witch."

"But I lost my magic."

"That wasn't your fault," Michelle assured her. "Bloody hell it's freezing!"

Gail giggled. She was still up out of the water.

"Right. In you go."

"Wait, no..." Splash, as Michelle dropped her unceremoniously in the water. Gail panicked for a second, then began to swim, obviously using just her arms.

"C..cold," she said.

Michelle ducked herself under. "It's better once you're in," she said.

The girls had a great time in the water, mainly splashing each other, at which Gail found she was definitely disadvantaged as she couldn't stand up and use both her arms to splash the others. So she and Michelle took on Gail and Jessica, which made them more evenly matched.

Michelle turned to Gail suddenly. "You're getting tired. I'd better get you out."

"Yeah," said Gail, obviously disappointed. It had been tiring using just her arms to swim and try to win the splashing war at the same time.

Michelle picked her up and Jessica made sure she was dried before Michelle put Gail down in the chair and wrapped her robe around her.

Almost too scared to ask it, Gail summoned all her courage. "Why did you suddenly want to bring me with you today?"

"Didn't you enjoy it?"

"I loved it, it's just..." Even though she was still cold, Gail flushed with embarrassment.

"One of the boys says you needed a friend. It seemed like none of the Gryffindors were bothering about you..."

Jessica added, "Don't you want to be friends with Slytherins, is that it?"

"No," cried Gail, worried that she'd offended her only friends. "I do. I was... just surprised."

"That's okay, then," said Michelle, as she began to push Gail back to the castle.

Late that night Gail was the subject of conversation in the Slytherin common room...

"How'd it go?"

"Fine. She's alright, actually. Not a bit like I thought she'd be."

The boy, Lucius, grinned. "Not like a Potter, you mean?"

Michelle laughed. "I still don't understand why you wanted us to make friends with her. After all, she's a..."

"Mudblood," spat Lucius with venom.

Michelle recoiled at both the word and the tone in which he said it.

Lucius laughed. "I have my reasons. That's all you need to know."

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

The following weekend, Michelle came for Gail again.

"What are we doing today?" asked Gail. "It's too cold to swim."

"Wait and see," Michelle replied archly.

When they head out towards the quidditch pitch, Gail was excited to her a voice she recognised at once. "Hi. May I join you ladies?"

"Hi, Lucius."

"So that's your name," said Gail.

"Hi, Gail. Want to go flying?"

"Flying?" she asked, slightly stunned by his suggestion.

"It's easy..."

"But I can't fly," she objected.

"You're not scared, are you?"

"No, I'm not," she denied. "But I can't fly now I don't have magic."

"All you have to do is hold on to me." He picked her up and sat her behind him on his broom. She wobbled and grabbed the broom tightly. He turned to face the front. "Not like that, round my waist... Tight now."

Without waiting, he took off. She grabbed his waist hurriedly. Once he was sure she was stable, he asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah," she breathed, both scared and excited at the same time.

At first he did a slow circuit of the pitch, staying close to the ground, until Gail was shouting, "Higher, Higher!" Then he rose up slowly to the height of the hoops used as goals, but still Gail wanted "Higher!"

"Okay, you asked for it," he said as he pointed the broom skywards.

Gail shrieked with fear as the castle became smaller, then, as she saw the lake far below, and Hogsmead in the distance, her fear turned to exhilaration.

Finally, when he headed back down to the ground she hugged him tightly and said, "Thank you. That was amazing." He put her gently down in her chair. "Can we do it again?"

"When?"

"Now?"

He laughed. "I've got homework to do?"

"Tomorrow maybe?"

He laughed. "Maybe. Just don't tell your father. He'd go spare."

"He's not my father. He's just Harry."

Sally, who been watching them with a touch of envy, snorted at the thought that anyone could call Harry Potter, "just Harry".

Lucius walked back up to the castle, but Gail was surprised when a castle elf appeared with food.

"I ordered a picnic," Michelle announced.

"He's nice, isn't he?" said Gail dreamily.

Michelle managed not to snort into her glass of pumpkin juice. "Who?" she asked, teasing the younger girl.

"Lucius, of course."

Managing somehow to keep a straight face, Michelle replied casually, "Yeah. He's okay."

That evening, the girls were laughing in the Slytherin common room. "I think Lucius has a girlfriend."

"She's definitely got a crush on you, Lucius."

"Good. That's what I want."

"I still don't see why..." complained Sally.

"You don't need to know yet," said Lucius airily, keeping to himself that he didn't know why either.

Gail of course had no idea that her growing friendship with the Slytherins was planned from afar. She just knew she had some friends at last and she loved it.

She began spending most evenings in their common room and persuaded Harry to add the Slytherin common room floo to her private floo network so that she could get there more easily.

Harry was surprised that the Slytherins agreed to that with argument, but kept that to himself. He didn't want to worry Ginny.

Ginny however, had had the same thought, but the fact that Gail seemed to be fairly happy at last, and was even eating well enough to put on some much-needed weight, was enough to stifle her occasional worried thought.

One of those evenings, the whole castle suddenly rocked with a loud bang and smoke began to pour from the dungeon areas which were home to the Slytherins.

Gail was sitting on a toilet at the time, when she smelled smoke. She struggled to her chair and fell hard onto the floor, banging her elbow, which sent a sudden pain through her.

Ignoring the pain, she tried to pull herself up onto her chair, but the effort was too much.

She wasn't the only one beginning to panic. Although most students had escaped quickly, a group of the youngest had run to the dormitories closest to Gail and found themselves blocked off by a choking wall of smoke. Turning again, the smoke was getting thicker in all directions. Their eyes were burning with the acrid smoke until they could see nothing.

As the smoke in the toilet area began to thicken as well, Gail began to scream. Gail's screams could have been heard in the nearest dormitories, but the occupants there had already been overcome by the smoke and could hear nothing, having collapsed choking onto the floor.

As the prefects were completing the headcount, the professors were casting spells to clear the air, to try to reach the source of the fire and smoke.

It was taking a long time, thought Harry. Too long. But he kept his fears to himself as he and the other professors continued to clear the smoke and search for the missing students.

The smoke had finally become thicker in the toilet where Gail was trapped on the floor and her struggles to get onto her chair became a struggle to breathe, until there was no more struggling as she also lost consciousness.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

**Author's note...**

**Sorry for the delay. Please see the bottom of the next chapter for the reasons. Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter six. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail's friendship has led her into terrible danger.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harry concentrated on finding the source of the fire while the other professors and Ginny searched all of Slytherin.

On finding the exploded potion cauldron, he quickly extinguished the fire and cast another charm to the clear smoke around him.

With no further source, the charms the professors were casting quickly cleared Slytherin of smoke and they quickly came upon the unconscious students and, finally, Gail.

Sending a prefect to find Harry and Ginny to tell them, the professors quickly took the students to the hospital wing.

Harry and Ginny ran to the hospital wing together. "Florence? How are they?" Harry asked the Mediwitch .

"Touch and go," she replied. "All the students have lung damage from the smoke. I'm treating it, but now we wait."

"Have you notified the parents?"

"I haven't had time."

"You stay with them," Harry offered, "I'll do that."

"Rather you than me. One of them is Lucius, the Minister's boy."

Harry grimaced. He knew the reaction that would get.

It was a long night, but interspersed with moments of hope as Mediwitch Florence pronounced one student after another out of danger, but she wouldn't allow any of them to regain consciousness until their lungs were properly healed.

The Minister had looked furious at Harry when he had arrived, but hadn't said anything. He took a look at his son and ordered the Mediwitch to contact him when she had news. They he demanded that Ginny took him to Harry's office, the only floo from which it was possible to leave Hogwarts.

When Ginny returned to Harry, she took his hand and said, "I can't believe he just left like that, without even waiting for his son to wake up. I suddenly feel sorry for Lucius Collins."

Harry looked at the young Slytherin lying there looking so helpless and alone, while all the others had a parent or parents sitting by them and admitted he felt the same.

"I wonder what was so important that the Minister had to leave," Ginny mused.

"Probably going to make trouble for me about this," said Harry bitterly.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

Harry wasn't surprised to read a story questioning his leadership at Hogwarts in the following day's Prophet.

"Are you okay?" asked Ginny, seeing his frown.

He tossed the newspaper to her. She took one look and frowned, "But that's not fair. No wonder you're upset"

"I'm not really. It's not like the Prophet has ever really supported me, is it? They've said a lot worse than that in the past."

Ginny knew what he was thinking without asking. "But you're not a child any more. After all this country owes to you, you think they'd at least wait for the result of the investigation before condemning you."

"Why miss a good story?" Harry replied. "After all, they can always conveniently forget that they spoke against me afterwards, just like before."

"It's not like you to get like this over something like some silly story in the Prophet. What's really wrong?"

"I want to know what happened. In a way, they're right. How could something like that happen here? And why would someone attack the Slytherins?"

"To discredit you?"

"Ginny, I know they're Slytherins, but I don't think even they would risk killing their own children just to get me some bad press."

"Collins might," said Ginny bitterly.

"That got to you, didn't it?" Harry asked.

"What?"

"The Minister not staying."

Ginny just nodded.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

Two evenings later, Ginny walked into Harry's office to see him looking happier than he'd been since the fire.

"What are you grinning about?" she asked.

"You mean I can't just be happy? Anyway, you've got a smile that could light up Hogwarts too."

"Gail's being released from the hospital wing in the morning. In fact all of them are."

"That's great. Perfect in fact."

"I think the fact that they were all able to talk to the Ministry investigators half the day finally convinced the dreaded Florence they were okay. She still wants to watch them one more night though, to be sure. Honestly, she's worse than Pomfrey was."

Harry laughed.

"Anyhow, you still haven't told me what you were grinning about," Ginny reminded him, determined not to let him off the hook.

"The head investigator came to see me before he left. They found out what caused the accident."

"Accident?" said Ginny incredulously.

"Accident," confirmed Harry. "And you're never going to believe this."

"What?"

"Some of the Slytherins were practising making a potion... I don't know which one, none of them would say. Probably up to something... Anyhow, they turned the heat up and it exploded."

"Why?"

At this point Harry grinned even more. "Would you believe the cauldron split? Something to do be being a cheap import with a bottom that was too thin?"

Ginny stared at him for a long moment. "Do we really have to tell Percy about this?"

"I think it'll be all round the Ministry by now."

"Pity. Perhaps he won't find out. He hasn't had much to do with the Ministry since he retired." Although Percy had resigned from the Ministry during the Hogwarts battle, Kingsley had persuaded him to return under the new administration.

"Even they won't be able to keep this out of the papers. The Prophet won't risk not printing it when the other papers will print it. At least it'll gag the Minister now, for a while."

"How?"

"As a reporter said when they contacted me for a quote, it won't look very good that one of Harry Potter's friends made a report about the dangers of thin-bottomed cauldrons years ago, and every Minister since then ignored it, even though it was the Ministry's job to enforce the import laws against unsafe goods."

Ginny grimaced. "You realise Percy will never let us forget this, don't you."

Harry laughed again. "if it means I don't have to worry that someone attacked my students, I don't care."

"Our students, Harry. Our students."

Harry smiled once again.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

It came as no surprise to anyone that the new Prophet story clearing Harry of blame and pointing out that every Minister since Fudge had ignored Percy Weasley's report was given rather less prominence than the original accusations against Harry.

Neither Harry or Ginny cared, for Gail was back with them. Ginny had insisted on having a private breakfast in their suite, although Gail had wanted to sit with her Slytherin friends in the Great Hall.

"You're not going to win this one," Harry had whispered to Gail and she had looked over at Ginny.

"I think you're right."

"Believe me I know. She spent a night hovering over you, crying for fear she'd lose her youngest daughter. Now she's had to wait days before you were allowed back to us."

Gail had looked startled for a moment, and quickly excused herself for a minute. She had returned a few minutes later, her eyes a little red, but insisted that nothing was wrong when Ginny had asked her.

When they finished breakfast, she had said quietly, "I'm going to see how my friends are, okay?"

When Ginny had agreed, Gail had replied, "And Mum, it's good to be home."

Gail had left so quickly even Ginny had been unable to think of a reply. She just looked at Harry and said, "She called me Mum. She called me Mum."

Harry just smiled.

That evening Ginny found Harry deep in thought. "What're you thinking?"

"About the prophecy."

"What about it?"

"We still have no idea who it refers to, and it pretty much has to be one of the first years. The bit about thrice returned from the dead... You don't think it could be one of those in the fire, do you?"

"Hardly likely, is it? They're Slytherins to start with. And if we're right about Minister Collins becoming the next dark lord, one of them was his son and the others were mostly his friends."

"I don't know then. Who could it be? How can I help him if I don't even know who it is?"

Ginny didn't answer as she was thinking exactly the same thing herself.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

All too soon it was Christmas and Hogwarts seemed empty. In fact it was almost empty. Most of the staff had gone, and all of the students. Ron and Hermione had gone to Beauxbatons as Ron had wanted to see all his family. He had felt guilty at leaving Harry for the holidays, but Harry and Ginny had insisted. Even the staff that hadn't gone for the holidays had gone away to spend Christmas Day with their families, leaving Harry, Ginny and Gail alone for the day.

Gail had been cross that they weren't going to Beauxbatons for the holidays, as she'd wanted to see Harry and Ginny's other children again. They had joined the Weasley clan at Beauxbatons. Although Gail had been worried what they'd say about her making friends with Slytherins, given Ron's less than warm reaction to her choice of friends, she'd still been looking forward to seeing them. Ginny was also desperate to see her family, the Weasleys and her own children, but when Harry had refused to go, feeling that something was going to happen, she'd refused to leave him. Gail had refused to leave Ginny even when Ron and Hermione offered to take her with them, as she'd become closer than ever to Ginny since the fire.

By the time Christmas Day had arrived, both Harry and Ginny were wishing that Gail had gone to Beauxbatons. Stuck here on her own without her friends, Gail had quickly become bored and irritable. She'd even had a few meaningless and pointless rows with Ginny and both Harry and Ginny had wished more than once that they'd sent Gail with Ron and Hermione whether she'd wanted to go or not.

For Harry, Christmas morning took him back to his first Christmas at Hogwarts. Gail had burst into tears at being given presents, even though most of her presents were still with the Weasley's at Beauxbatons as they'd been expected to go there.

"Is it really for me?" she'd asked uncertainly when she'd been handed a nicely wrapped box labelled "From Ron and Hermione." When Ginny had nodded and assured her that it was, Gail had burst into tears, dropped the present and wheeled herself off rapidly to her bedroom as she didn't want Harry and Ginny to see her cry.

Ginny had finally coaxed her back out to their lounge, telling her she had nothing to be ashamed of and that Harry had never had a Christmas present until he came to Hogwarts either. Both Ginny and Gail were red around the eyes when Ginny finally wheeled Gail back out.

"Sorry," Gail said quietly.

"It was hard for me too," replied Harry, then gave her the present again so she could open it.

"Chocolates," she cried with delight, immediately offering them to Ginny and Harry. They took one each but insisted that the rest were for her, or for her friends if she wanted to save them.

"I don't think they'll last that long," Gail had replied happily.

Ginny was smirking and Harry asked her, "What's so funny?"

"I'm just wondering how long Ron had to argue with Hermione to get her to agree to giving chocolates."

Harry laughed. Gail looked puzzled and asked, "Why wouldn't Hermione want to give me anything?"

"Not anything," laughed Ginny. "Chocolates. She's always telling us chocolates are bad for your teeth..."

"Which is true," added Harry.

"Hermione's parents were dentists," Ginny explained. "Hermione's always been a bit obsessed about not eating too many sweet things."

Gail rolled her eyes upwards. "An hour at least," she replied.

"Huh?" asked Harry.

"I bet Ron argued with her at least an hour. But they'll have had fun making up."

Ginny looked at Gail shocked. "What do you mean?"

"Well every time they argue, they disappear afterwards and the next time we see them they're both looking really happy."

A somewhat embarrassed Harry quickly decided that now was as good a time as ever to rapidly change the subject by giving Gail the present from him and Ginny. Ginny added, "Actually it's two presents, so be careful unwrapping it as the little one is inside the big one and it's delicate."

Harry whispered to Ginny, "What else did you get her that's so big?"

"Wait and see," said Ginny.

"Don't you think you ought to unwrap one of yours first?" asked Gail.

"She's more patient than me," laughed Ginny.

Although Ginny had wanted him to open his present from Ron and Hermione first, Harry insisted on opening his present from Ginny, carefully unwrapping it to find, to his surprise, a Weasley jumper. He looked up to Ginny and she had tears in her eyes. "I'm not as good as Mum was, but I couldn't break the tradition, could I?"

"It's lovely," Harry assured her, correctly guessing what Gail's other present would be.

"Now you, Mum," insisted Gail.

When Ginny also reached for her present from Ron and Hermione, Harry said, "Oh, no you don't," and handed her the present from him.

"It's wonderful," she cried, opening it. It was an album of photos of all her family through the years, even including some of her parents when they were younger, as she tearfully noticed, going right up through to the present day with some photos of Gail. Gail hated posing for photos, but Harry had persuaded her to pose for one for Ginny. She hadn't known that Harry had also asked one of the boys to snap some casual shots of Gail, some of which included her friends.

"But I didn't get any of you anything," cried Gail.

"Don't worry. That's our fault," Ginny assured her. "I should have taken you shopping, but I wasn't sure you were up to going out yet."

"Mu-um," said Gail, rolling her eyes again.

"Right, now yours," said Ginny.

As Harry had expected, the bigger present was another Weasley jumper. He supposed they should really be called Potter jumpers as Ginny Potter had made them, but he'd always think of them as Weasley jumpers.

"Ginny's mother used to make one for all her family every Christmas," Harry explained, so now Ginny's made them for us."

Having carefully unwrapped the jumper to take out the smaller package inside, Gail insisted on trying the jumper on straight away. Then she insisted that Harry wear his as well.

Harry did so and hugged both Ginny, and to her surprise, Gail as well.

Harry could see concern of Ginny's face as Gail began to unwrap the final present. They'd racked their brains for days trying to think of a present for Gail. What do you give a muggle almost-nine-year-old when she lives in a wizarding school where none of the electronic games often given to muggle children would work?

When Gail saw it, her eyes lit up with delight. "It's beautiful," she whispered, taking out a thin golden chain with a cluster of tiny gems set in a golden Lion.

"Why a lion?" she asked.

"Because you're so brave," answered Ginny quickly, before Harry had the chance to tell her the real reason.

Later, Gail went out to try to make a snowman, very difficult from a wheelchair, but if anyone could do it, Ginny knew that Gail would manage it.

Harry took the opportunity to ask Ginny why she hadn't told Gail the real reason for the lion, which was to do with Hermione.

Hermione had told them one day what Gail's name meant. Her middle name, Leona, was a latinised version of a ancient Greek name meaning lion. Her surname, Findley, was, ironically seeing as she now lived in Scotland, a Scottish name, meaning white or fair warrior.

Ginny had replied, "Because then she'd have wanted to know what her first name meant, and I didn't want to make her think of him today of all days."

Harry understood. Her first name, Abigail, was a German version of a Hebrew name meaning "my father is joy". Hermione had pointed out that father didn't always mean a literal father, but could mean source, but Harry was glad Ginny had thought more about this than he had. Regardless of whether it really meant father or not, it would have cast a sadness on an otherwise happy morning.

Ginny had insisted on cooking the Christmas dinner herself, rather than letting the castle elves do it. Harry had tried to help, but Ginny finally chased him out of the kitchen and told him to go and play with Gail.

Not sure whether to be annoyed with her on not, Harry went down and started a snowball fight with Gail.

"Not fair!" she spluttered from her chair. "I can't grab snow as quickly as you."

Harry crept behind her and promptly put a handful of snow down her back. She squealed as it slipped down her back and turned round faster than he would have believed possible.

"Come on," said Harry. "You're cold."

"Whose fault's that?" she retorted.

"Let's go and see if the food's ready yet."

"You sound like Uncle Ron."

"Another insult like that and you'll get more snow down your back."

They made their way inside to their Christmas dinner.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

**Author's note...**

**There, I was a good boy this time, I avoided the temptation of leaving you with another cliff-hanger. Someone offered to beta for me but a disastrous computer crash means I lost their email. Please contact me again as I still don't have a beta. ****I've finished these two chapters and a chapters of Deatheater's Revenge. Unfortunately as I write this my internet connection is STILL not working for me to post them. Thanks Telecom! ****I finally transferred this to a diskette to upload from an internet cafe. ****Please review. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter seven. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Harry has been cleared of the accident involving the Slytherin students and is enjoying Christmas with Ginny and Gail.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harry and Gail had just sat down to eat when the floo came to life. "Professor Potter?"

"Yes."

"Sorry to disturb your Christmas. I'm the duty auror at the Ministry. I've been asked to let you know that there have been attacks."

"Who?"

"Three so far, all students at Hogwarts..."

Harry jumped to his feet and ran towards the floo. "Get back. I'm coming." With a green flash he disappeared from the fireplace.

It was late that night when Harry returned, looking exhausted. Ginny had been agitated all day, worried about Harry and Hermione and Ron had joined her, to wait for Harry in their lounge.

One look at Harry's ashen face told them all was not well. He didn't even bother to brush the soot from his clothes before punching the nearest wall.

"Harry?" asked Ginny fearfully.

"Three," he said bitterly. "Three first years dead and their families. One girl in St Mungo's. Every first year muggleborn's home attacked. Luckily a lot were away. Those who came back today found their homes destroyed. Some appear to be away for the holidays as there are no bodies. We spent the afternoon searching for bodies."

"You should have called us," said Ginny.

"It was bad enough I had to do it..."

"Harry," said Hermione. "When are you going to learn? We're in this together. You don't have to do it alone." When he didn't answer she changed the subject, "Who was it?"

He gave the names of the three dead children. "But Samantha was pure blood!" Ron exclaimed.

"She was visiting one of her muggleborn friends," Harry sighed.

"Who was injured?"

"Mariella Hernandez. Her parents are with her. They made it clear that when she's released, they are returning to South America, taking her with them, and having nothing to do with the magical community ever again. How could I blame them?"

"But she's one of the best students," cried Hermione.

"What could I say?" replied Harry. "Every single muggleborn first year's home attacked. If they were home, they and their families were killed. The aurors think Mariella survived only because her parents were out and she was having a nap and the attackers didn't notice she was there. She was injured when the house collapsed. Tell me, Hermione. How do I persuade Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez to risk their lives and their eleven year old daughter's and stay here?"

For once Hermione had no answer.

Seeing the all-too-familiar look on his face, Ginny said, "It's not your fault, Harry."

"I should have known."

"How could you?"

"I should have done something."

"What could you have done?"

"I don't know." Harry's face changed from near-despair to anger and determination. "When the students return, I'm teaching every muggleborn to defend themselves."

"Starting Dumbledore's Army again? Great!" said Ron.

"No. This time we take everyone, from the youngest to the eldest."

"Isn't that too young?" objected Ginny.

"It's obviously not too young to be a target. Anything I can teach them is better than nothing."

"You shouldn't restrict it to muggleborns," said Hermione.

"They're most at risk."

"So any pureblood or halfblood who is friends with a muggleborn is fair game?"

Ginny looked at Hermione with anger, but before she could say anything, Harry said, "Sorry. You're right. As of the first day of term, this is a training camp. If those bastards want a war, they'll have one."

"They should be able to practice during the holidays too," said Hermione.

"Sure," Harry agreed. "Why not? They'll need all the practice they can get."

"Then you need the Ministry to drop the under-age magic laws to allow them to do so, especially as they only affect muggleborns."

Harry look surprised. Hermione sighed, "I have explained this before. The Ministry detects WHERE a spell is cast, not by whom. So if a pureblood or halfblood student casts a spell, they can't tell it's the student doing it. So the law only works against muggleborns."

"Those who need the practice most," said Ron, catching on quickly.

"Exactly," said Hermione. "To be fair," she admitted, "they know that magical parents can cope with the spells their children might cast, but muggle parents wouldn't be able to, but right now..."

"The muggle students need the right to practice defending themselves," Harry finished for her. "When the Wizengamot is back in session, I'll insist they change that law."

"There's something else," Ron pointed out.

"What?"

"You say they attacked EVERY first year muggleborn?"

Harry nodded.

"Then they had access to the school records. And if that information didn't come from the school, it came from the Ministry."

"Given the Minister, I shouldn't be surprised," said Ginny.

"Don't you think you should keep Gail away from the Collins boy and his group?" asked Ron.

"No," protested Ginny. "Not yet anyway. I don't trust them any more than you do, but they're the only friends she's got. I can't take that away from her."

Ron nodded reluctantly.

The next day, Professor Neville Longbottom cut his holiday short to return to Hogwarts early and the five of them began to plan the training.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

The day the students returned was the most sombre welcoming feast any of them could remember. Half the muggleborn first years were missing, those who had been killed obviously, but many of those who had survived were also missing because their parents had taken them away from the school, and, in some cases, like Mariella Hernandez, out of the country.

"An attack on one is an attack on us all," Harry had said, following a minute's silence broken only by weeping from some of the students. "From this moment on, you will all learn to defend yourselves, starting the evening after tomorrow. Classes will be taken by Professors Longbottom and Weasley, also Professor Weasley's husband, Ron, and my wife, Ginny. I will be supervising all classes. Before each class you will be given material to study by Professor Weasley..." There were some groans at this which made Harry smile for a second despite the seriousness of the subject. "And you will study them or you will find yourself unable to defend yourself in the classes."

The next day, the first proper day of term was also the first day of the Wizengamot session, so Harry went to London to the full session. He had placed an emergency motion before the Wizengamot

One of the old pureblood families got up to speak, "While I sympathise with the noble Professor Potter having lost three students in the attacks on Christmas day, allowing children to practice magic out of school is a recipe for chaos and I cannot support this motion."

As one after another got up to speak, it was obvious the vote was going to go against Harry.

He stood up once more. "In every war against a dark lord, the Wizengamot has done nothing. The Ministry has always stood against the light, corrupted by old money and families who believed themselves safe and secure from the sufferings inflicted on the muggleborns."

"You've already had your say," interrupted the Minister.

"I haven't even begun," snapped Harry. "In the last war, you removed the greatest Wizard of our age at the behest of a puppet of the rich and powerful, and allowed the Ministry to use the Prophet to discredit him and me, until Lord Voldemort was almost too powerful to stop. I ask you not to repeat the same mistake."

As Harry had feared the vote went against him anyway. He stood up once more. "As of now, I officially notify this body, that I am extending the official bounds of the school to include the homes of every student. Therefore, students are legally allowed to use magic in their home, regardless of the will of the Ministry."

"You can't do that," cried the Minister.

"Actually I can, " replied Harry. "Professor Weasley," he nodded to Hermione, sitting at his left, "who many of you may remember as head of the department of Magical Law Enforcement, researched thoroughly, and it is within the power of the Headmaster to designate other areas as temporary parts of the School."

"But that was meant for school visits to places," the Minister said.

"Was it?" asked Harry innocently. "The law doesn't say so."

"Laws can be changed."

"Maybe," said Harry. "But I am telling you all this right now. Whether you choose to believe it or not, we are in a war. And I will defend my students and their families to the best of my ability. Anyone who tries to oppose me might remember what happened to Voldemort. I am quite prepared to fight and kill if I have to, and the same will go for every member of staff at Hogwarts. Oppose me at your own risk. If you want a war with me, you'll have one."

Harry didn't stop to wait for a reply, but marched to the door. He pause briefly at the door to speak to the reporter from the Prophet. "My warning is for you too, and that rag you write for. Remember that before you try to discredit me this time."

He slammed the door leaving shocked silence behind him. He was joined a minute later by Ginny, Hermione and Ron. "How did I do?" he asked.

"Bloody hell, Harry," said Ron. "You virtually declared war on the Wizengamot"

"It was time someone did," Harry replied grimly.

"You were great, Harry," said Ginny.

"Er, I'm going back in there," said Ron. "I want to hear the reaction, see what they plan to do about it."

Harry nodded. "That's why you wanted to borrow my invisibility cloak." He turned to Hermione, "You coming back with us, Hermione?"

"No, I'll wait with Ron."

"Come on, Gin. Let's go home. I've had enough politics for one day. I feel like I need a bath."

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

It was late that evening when Ron and Hermione returned to the castle. They found Harry and Ginny still up.

"Well you certainly had an effect, Harry," said Hermione.

"Not 'alf," agreed Ron. "They spent the rest of the day and half the evening trying to decide how to react and what to do about you."

"And?" asked Ginny.

"They're politicians. They don't know how to react, so at the moment, they're doing nothing. A lot of shouting about it, but no action. Pretty much as you expected, eh Harry?"

"I was hoping so."

And the Prophet? Do you think Harry's warned them off enough to discourage them?"

"I think they'll play it down," said Hermione. "The Minister doesn't want a split that public. Too many people remember everything Harry did. He can't be sure he'd come out on top."

Hermione and Ron wanted to discuss further the likely Ministry tactics, but Harry decided he was tired and excused himself and went to bed. Ginny said, "You can let yourselves out," and followed him.

"Are you really alright?" she asked Harry when they were alone in bed.

"Yeah. I think I was lucky to get away with it today. I half expected to be dragged off to Azkaban."

"I'd like to see them try," snorted Ginny.

The next morning, when the owls arrived with copies of the Prophet, Hermione embarrassed herself by nearly choking on her tea.

"What?" asked Harry.

Hermione read out, "and the Ministry is pleased to support the new safety measures introduced to protect Hogwarts students. The Minister is quoted as saying that 'the safety of our children has always been the number one concern for the Ministry'. He has instructed the aurors to form a quick reaction unit to assist if any more students' homes are attacked." She added, in a rather bitter tone of voice, "Too little, too late."

"Bloody hell," exclaimed Ron. "Did they go to the same session we did?"

Ginny laughed. "I think you won this round, Harry."

"He just can't think of a way to discredit Harry yet, without drawing attention to how similar his policies are to Voldemort's," stated Hermione. "I'd be careful, Harry. He'll really be on the lookout for a way to bring you down now."

"Let him try," said Harry. "Just let him try."

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter eight. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**The Ministry have been forced into backing Harry's plan to protect the students after the attacks on the muggleborn students on Christmas Day.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Harry!" said Ginny loudly.

"Huh?"

"Neil was asking if it was okay to start the feast, seeing as you're miles away."

"Er, yes. Sorry."

The rest of the school year had gone without incident. During the Easter break, most students tended to stay anyway and all the muggleborns had stayed. The defence training had been intense, as Harry had intended.

As Hermione had predicted, with a perceived threat from outside, most of the students, whatever their house, had pulled together and worked hard together. Even some of the Slytherins seem to have let down their hostility for members of the other houses, Lucius Collins being one of the exceptions.

But in spite of his hostility to the rest of Hogwarts, Gail had continued her friendship with him and his group, spending quite a few evenings and most weekends with them.

One thing had saddened Harry, many of the other students were avoiding becoming close to the muggleborn students, for fear of making themselves a target.

Harry stood up. "It is our final feast of the school year, before we go our separate ways. For some it is the end of your career here at Hogwarts, but the start of your new lives as adult wizards and witches. I am sure we wish all you well. For others, it is a break, but I urge you to continue your training in defence. I have declared each of your homes an annex of this school, which means that you can practice your magic without worrying about getting into trouble with the Ministry. Do not abuse the privilege or it will not be given to you again. And now to more cheerful things. Let the feast begin."

At every feast it seemed to Harry that the castle elves were outdoing themselves. He wondered if they were trying to make up for the sadness of the news from outside.

"A penny for your thoughts?" asked Hermione.

"A whole year gone. Attacks on muggleborns and muggles are continuing and I still have no more idea who the prophecy refers to than I did when the year started."

Hermione's face gave away that she'd been worrying about the same thing. "I guess you'll know when you need to know, Harry," she replied feebly.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

The next school year started with a sense of relief. There had been no attacks on students during the summer holidays. Harry had eagerly watched the sorting, as he had the year before.

"Harry," Hermione pointed out. "It can't be one of these, he would be younger than it says."

"I know," he sighed. "But none of last year's lot seem remotely like the one we are looking for."

"Who are you looking for?" asked Gail.

"It doesn't matter," said Ginny.

"I know," she sighed. "Hogwarts business. It's always 'Hogwarts business'."

Harry couldn't help laughing. Hermione wasn't laughing. She'd seen what Harry hadn't – the sudden fierce look of determination on Gail's face. She hoped she wasn't going to do something silly and get herself in trouble.

Over the autumn term, Gail seemed to have developed a knack of getting into trouble. She couldn't do magic, but she got involved in every one of the Slytherin pranks when she could, even if it was only sneaking potions into the professors' teapot.

Gail might still be unable to use her legs, in spite of the passive exercise Ginny gave them every day to keep the muscles from atrophy, but nobody could really think of her as disabled. Certainly, apart from a few weeks in summer when she'd been depressed and frustrated alone at Hogwarts, Gail didn't seem to think of herself as disabled.

If anything, watching the students fly made her saddest. She seemed to be more upset about not having magic like the others, than missing the use of her legs.

By Christmas, Harry was almost a bundle of nerves. After a lull during the summer, attacks had continued, including sometimes on the homes of muggleborn students. On Christmas Eve Harry was so restless, the others just sat with him. Gail, of course had been put to bed so she wouldn't miss Father Christmas.

"Harry. Even if there are more attacks tomorrow, you've done everything you can," insisted Ron.

"Have I?" retorted Harry angrily. "I'm supposed to be training the only one who can defeat the Minister and I don't even know who he is."

"Keep your voice down," Ginny reminded him.

"What's the use of a prophecy when you don't know who it's about?" Harry continued to rant.

This time Hermione's usual comment that he'd know when it was time did nothing to placate him.

"It's alright for you. You're not the one left with the job of finding and training him," he snapped at her. Seeing her hurt look and Ron's glare, he quickly apologised. "It's just so frustrating."

Ron got up from the sofa he was sharing with Hermione, his wand out, and ran to the door.

Yanking it open he almost tripped over Gail. "What did you hear?" he asked.

"Come in, Gail," said Harry. "Now what were you doing sneaking around out there."

"I was just waiting for Father Christmas," she simpered, trying to look innocent.

"Did you hear what we were talking about?" he asked.

"No," she lied. "I suppose I have to go back to bed now?"

"Yes," said Ginny. "Come on, I'll take you."

As they went, Ron turned to Harry and said, "She must have heard."

"You don't think she'll tell her Slytherin friends, do you?"

"I doubt it," said Hermione. "I don't think she'd ever do anything to hurt you or Ginny."

"Ginny maybe," agreed Harry, "but she's gone back to hardly speaking to me. I don't know what I've done."

"You're a man, Harry," said Hermione seriously. "You don't have to do anything."

"Great, but she'll trust the Collins boy."

"The Slytherins were her first friends, Harry. I know you'd prefer if it she was friends with Gryffindors, but they weren't interested in her. The Slytherins were."

"But why?" asked Ron. "What's in it for them?"

"Do you have to be like that?" sighed Hermione, "Just because they're Slytherins..."

"I'm with Ron on this one," said Harry. "Even you must admit, the son of my worst enemy politically, suddenly becomes Gail's best friend. It's too much of a coincidence. He must be up to something."

They took Hermione's silence as an admission that she agreed.

"Did you find out anything about any of these two years?" asked Harry, trying to change the subject.

"No," admitted Hermione. "I did as you asked and asked a friend at St. Mungo's to check on the medical backgrounds of all the first, second and third years. No near-death accidents or illnesses at all, except for the one here last year. Oh, one third year did nearly die from bronchitis as a baby, but she was a girl. Of course, the Slytherins might not make all their medical records open to St. Mungo's. But it seems a long shot."

"Could the prophecy be wrong?" asked Ron. "I mean, we know who made it."

"No," said Harry. "You didn't hear her. When she made the second one, she changed, it was like someone else altogether. I knew it was true. And sure enough, her first two prophecies came true, word for word."

"So we're no nearer than we were before," sighed Ron.

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

"You can all leave us now," said Lucius quietly.

The other Slytherins looked at him, puzzled, but left without a word.

"What's the matter?" he asked Gail.

Suddenly nervous, she stammered, "w..what do you mean?"

"You've been acting funny since we came back after Christmas. Is there something wrong?"

"Funny how?"

"Strange. Like you're suddenly not sure we're your friends any more."

"Of course you're my friends. You're the only friends I've got."

"Then why don't you look at me?"

Gail looked up at him. He smiled at her, and for a moment she was even more nervous, before feeling completely relaxed.

"We're still friends then, okay?" he grinned.

She nodded, feeling ridiculously happy.

"Time I took you back. Don't want them worrying about you."

"Why do you want to be friends with me?" asked Gail. "You usually don't like muggleborns."

"Maybe I have a thing for pretty little blond-haired girls," he laughed.

Half an hour later an owl left bearing a message. "She knows something. I'm not good enough yet to get it out of her. You'll have to do it."

Just over a week after that Gail was on her way to the gardens from the Great Hall to where she'd floo from their lounge when she spotted a book, apparently fallen open on the ground near the front door. It was a first year students' textbook, "An introduction to wizarding culture for muggleborns, or everything you wanted to know about being a wizard or witch but were afraid to ask," by Hermione Weasley-Granger.

Gail stopped and reached over to pick it up and felt a sudden tug as she disappeared.

She landed with a bump outside a huge house and twisted her ankle. For a moment she was frightened, then she heard, "Imperio!" and felt strangely warm and happy, even her ankle didn't hurt when she tried to move it.

She followed the man into the house, no longer afraid. Then he waved his wand at her and she felt her ankle hurting again and the strange happy feeling was gone.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked, her fear having returned full force.

"Never you mind, you filthy muggle. Honestly! A muggle at Hogwarts, whatever next? What did you hear at Christmas?"

"Nothing," she cried.

"Liar. Look at me."

She turned away.

"Imperio! Look at me." Again that warm feeling and she wanted to look at him even though she knew she shouldn't. "Pathetic. I can read you like a book. Hmm. So there's another prophecy is there? And a boy that Potter is looking for. Obviously he hasn't found him yet from what you heard. Right, that's enough from you. Take this." He handed her a knut coin. As she took it, he said something else to her and she was whisked away again.

She woke up in a dark forest. She was alone and had no idea where she was, nor how she'd got there. One minute she'd been going out to play with her friends at Hogwarts. How had she got here? More to the point, how was she going to get home.

She struggled to get up, her useless legs making it impossible. It was cold in the forest and getting colder and she began to panic.

She called out for help, not knowing if anyone could hear her. After calling out for a minute she listened for a reply. There was none. She dragged herself to the base of a tree and sat up against it. That had taken all her energy and she felt herself falling asleep. "Mustn't sleep," she muttered to herself, but it didn't do any good. She was exhausted.

Something was tapping her arm. She woke with a start and reached out. A hoof of some kind. A horse? It was too dark to see.

"What is someone so young doing out so deep into the forest?" a voice asked.

"Horses can't talk," she muttered to herself. "I must be dreaming."

"I am not a horse," the voice explained, sounding offended. "I am a centaur."

"Sorry," she said quickly.

"Are you from the village?"

"No, from Hogwarts. Do you know where that is?"

A sound something like a cross between a laugh and a whinny was the response. "Of course. Come. Climb up and I will take you back. Haven't they told you never to come into the forbidden forest."

"I can't climb up. My legs don't work," she explained.

"Then how did you get here?"

"I don't know. I was in Hogwarts, then I woke up here."

"Hmm. If I get down as low as I can, can you pull yourself up?"

"I'll try."

It, he? knelt down and she used all her strength to pull herself over his back. He rose again carefully.

"Hold on tightly." He began to walk, then moved into a trot. "We can go faster when we are out of the forest," he said.

"Thank you," she said, finally beginning to feel less scared.

"Why don't your legs work?"

"I was hurt," she explained.

"Why don't you use your magic to heal them?"

"I lost that too."

"You mean you have forgotten it," he corrected her.

"I never knew I had magic until I lost it, so I can't have forgotten it."

"Hmm. Things are happening again. No wonder Mars was bright again tonight."

"What?"

His reply was lost to the wind as they left the forest and he moved quickly into a gallop.

One of the senior Hufflepuffs was first to see them, and quickly shouted for help. By the time Gail was at the front door, Harry and Ginny were there with Florence. Harry lifted her down and they were join by Ron and Hermione, who had coming running from somewhere inside.

"Where have you been?" cried Ginny angrily.

"Don't be cross with her, she knows nothing. Some evil was responsible for this," said the centaur, being unusually talkative.

"Do you know what happened?" asked Harry.

"I only know that Mars was bright and I heard a cry for help. I found her deep into the forbidden forest."

"Thank you for bringing her back."

"We have long memories, Harry Potter. Guard her well. She has a part to play."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.

"We remember you too. You gave us respect, so for that I will warn you. The stars speak of war again. You must prepare."

Before anyone could say anything else, he turned and galloped away.

Gail spent the night watched over by Florence. When she was allowed back to their own quarters, Florence met with Harry and Ginny.

"She'd had her memory wiped, or part of it at least. Can you think of why anyone would want to do that to a ten year old girl?"

Harry and Ginny could, but that was not something they were going to share with Florence, however nice she was.

"I could probably break the charm, but I don't know what it would do to her," Florence added.

"Then we'll leave her alone," said Ginny firmly.

"I agree," replied Florence. "I'll be going then."

** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter nine. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J., her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

** Gail was abducted but returned. A centaur has predicted war.**

A month had gone by and they'd made no further progress on finding out what had happened to Gail, nor on identifying the new Chosen One, as Ron had started calling the mystery boy.

Gail seemed surprisingly unaffected by her experience, except that she told Hermione what the centaur had said about her just forgetting her magic. It made no more sense to Hermione than it had to Gail, although Hermione remembered having found Gail's name in the Hogwarts register. She didn't tell that to Gail though.

Much to Harry's consternation, Gail seemed even closer to Lucius Collins, even watching the Slytherin quidditch practice times. Lucius had taken to carrying Gail to the top of a stand so she could get a better view.

He still didn't know why his father wanted him to stay close to the girl, but he wouldn't dream of disobeying. For a pureblood family, obedience to the head of the family was absolute, at least for all respectable purebloods. As his father had told him with disgust, if Percy Weasley had been his son and disobeyed him as he had his own father, he would have killed him without a second thought. But then that muggle-loving Arthur Weasley never had had respect for the proper order of things.

Aware that Gail had got a growing crush on him, Lucius began showing off his flying close to her. One practice he pushed himself too much and crashed into the stand. Unable to control his broom, he fell.

Gail was leaning over the edge watching him fall to his death and screamed out no.

Two hours later, Florence was telling Harry, "Well it's still touch and go, but it looks like he's going to live. What I don't understand is how he wasn't killed outright, falling from such a height."

"That was Gail, ma'am," said one of the Slytherin team who were still waiting to see how their leader was doing.

"Gail?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Yes, sir. He was falling and she screamed and pointed at him. He seemed to be surrounded by light coming from her hands and it slowed his fall. She almost brought him to a stop."

The others from the team nodded eagerly as both Harry and Florence gave the boy doubtful looks. "It's true."

"Then how was he still nearly killed?" asked Florence.

"Well, she sort of collapsed and the spell broke and he fell the rest of the way," said the boy.

"Where is she?" asked Harry

"Oh, Merlin. She'll still be on the stand."

"Show me."

Harry followed the boy at a run and found Gail unconscious. He sent the boy to get Ginny and took Gail to Florence at once.

"How is she?"

"Ask me later," replied Florence. "She's suffering from complete magical exhaustion."

"Then what he said was true."

"It would appear so. And it was lucky for her that she collapsed when she did. The power she was putting out nearly killed her. She's too young to tolerate that level of output. She must have been ignoring the pain signals her brain was sending her."

"Will she be alright?"

"We'll know shortly. Right now she's still in shock. I'll continue to monitor her."

It was a traumatic almost three hours for both Harry and Ginny before finally Florence told them. "She's stable now. She'll be okay."

"I'll stay with her," said Ginny, just as Ron and Hermione arrived. They had been out for the day. Already the Slytherins were enjoying telling the dramatic story again.

"He was surrounded by light coming from Gail?" asked Hermione. "What colour was it?"

"Sort of gold, why?"

"Just curious," she replied.

Harry and Ginny looked at her, then at each other.

Florence finally convinced Ginny that Gail wasn't going to wake overnight and that she'd be better getting some sleep to be fresh for tomorrow.

Back in the Potters' quarters, Ron said to Harry and Ginny, "it seems we still don't know for certain who the Chosen One is, but we can have a pretty good guess at who the golden one is."

"No," gasped Ginny. "The prophecy said only one would survive."

"We can have a pretty good guess at the Chosen One too," said Hermione.

"Who?" asked Ron.

"Lucius Collins," she said.

"It can't be," snapped Ron.

"Before you bite my head off, listen."

"Okay, but you're never going to convince me that a Slytherin is the Chosen One."

"Well, he's had two brushes with death that he should not have survived. He's the right age. He's close to the one who is probably the golden one."

Ron shook his head. This was too much to believe.

"And," finished Hermione triumphantly, "He's out of the dark. He's Collins' own son."

None of them could say anything.

"We'll know for certain later," she said.

"How?" asked Harry.

"He'll almost die a third time, won't he?"

Ginny had wanted to be the one to explain to Gail what had happened but she didn't get the chance. Gail had woken up the next afternoon, earlier than expected, and had found herself the stunned heroine of the Slytherins who had come to visit Lucius Collins.

"But I couldn't have," she argued. "I lost my magic."

She couldn't bring herself to even hope that what they were saying was true. To be disappointed if it didn't turn out to be true was too much.

However the moment Ginny walked in, having been called by Florence the moment she realised that Gail was awake, Gail asked, "Mum, is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That I really did magic? All I can remember is screaming and my head hurting and knowing I had to keep looking at Lucius even though it was hurting."

"They all say you did magic. They saw you. And Florence said that if the boy had fallen all that way he would have been killed."

"Lucius. His name´s Lucius, not 'the boy', Mum."

"Lucius," Ginny repeated.

"Mum. It is a good thing I did magic isn't it?"

Startled, Ginny replied, "of course. Why?"

"Then why do you look so sad about it?"

Unable to tell her the true reason, she came up with something her own mother had said to her more than once. "No reason. It's just my little girl is growing up."

"Oh. Only you've been so good to me I wouldn't want magic if it made you sad."

Ginny was glad of the sudden interruption from Florence wanting to examine her. "I'll let you get on," she told Florence in a huskier-than-usual voice. "See you later, darling."

"Okay, Mum."

Gail was released from the Hospital Wing that evening. Ron had wanted to organise a small 'Welcome Home' party, but Ginny reminded him that Gail was still very weak and needed to be kept calm.

Gail still found it hard to believe she'd actually performed magic and wasn't really convinced until she visited Lucius the next afternoon. He had woken a few hours earlier and the moment he saw her, he motioned for her to come and sit next to his bed.

"I owe you my life," he said seriously.

"I still don't think it can have been me," replied Gail, looking at the floor.

Using a hand under her chin to lift her face to look at him, he said gently, "I was there. It was you. I could feel the power coming from you. You were glowing like nothing I've ever seen. You're a powerful witch, Gail."

"If I'm so powerful, why did I let you fall?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I think maybe the shock was too much for you. When you collapsed, I thought you were going to fall as well. You nearly died trying to save me."

"Did I? That's why it hurt so much. It was strange. When I looked at you, I remember thinking if I didn't look away, you'd be alright. But it was hurting to look at you."

"Why did you?"

"You're my best friend."

When she left and he was quite alone, Lucius cried himself to sleep.

For the rest of the school year, Gail had occasional bursts of accidental magic, similar to that normally experienced by magical toddlers. Other than that life went on at Hogwarts as before, except that Gail sometimes woke up suddenly in the night complaining of stiffness or pain in her back.

The summer holidays brought news of increasing attacks on muggles and on muggleborns. As before the Prophet was barely reporting them, Harry only learned from some of Ron and Hermione's many contacts still within the Ministry.

The first really bright spot was when Hermione was signing the Hogwarts letters. These were written automatically by a spell, but as the new deputy headmistress, she still had to sign them herself. She came across one with the name Abigail Leona Findley, and smiled to herself. She almost went to tell Harry and Ginny, but decided to let them and Gail find out the same way as every other student. At least this was one muggleborn that she wouldn't have to go and visit to explain that magic was real.

Gail was amazed that an owl would actually be delivering something to her, that she almost fell from her chair in excitement. She pushed herself into the lounge waving it around, "I've got a letter," she cried. "Me!"

"Who from?" asked Harry, puzzled.

Ginny looked up and caught sight of the seal on the back and grinned at both of them.

"What?" said Gail.

"Open it, then," Ginny told her.

Gail tore it open and began to read it... "I've been accepted at Hogwarts." She looked at Harry accusingly, "You did it!"

Harry's stunned expression convinced her more than his denial that he'd known nothing about it.

"It's just from Aunt Hermione," Gail said, a little disappointed.

"No," explained Ginny. "She or Harry just have to sign each one. The castle itself produces the letters."

"So I'm really going to study here?" Gail asked uncertainly.

"Yes, you are."

"Yippee," cried Gail, so excited that this time she did tip herself out of her chair.

"I hope you're better at staying on a broom than you are at staying in that chair," laughed Harry.

The excitement of the trip to Diagon Alley and being chosen by a wand was followed by a let-down. Even with Ginny and Hermione trying to teach her, Gail couldn't manage the simplest spell with her wand.

Ginny was worried about that, even though Harry pointed out that he'd never cast a spell with a wand in his life until a while AFTER he came to Hogwarts.

Hermione calmed Ginny down by pointing out that the castle didn't make mistakes. "Maybe after everything that's happened to her it's going to take a while for her to have the confidence to actually cast a spell."

A few days after that Ginny took Gail by a portkey to Kings Cross. "I want her to come to Hogwarts like all the others, to have the excitement of seeing the train for the first time." Harry laughed, but quietly agreed with her.

Ginny returned by portkey leaving Gail on the train alone. Of course, she wasn't alone for long. The other first years gathered around her when they found out who she was, asking her all about Hogwarts, and especially, how they would be sorted.

"I don't know," she answered. "I really don't," she tried to convince them. "They would never let me see the sorting ceremony."

"Is it true we have to cast spells?" asked one girl.

"I hope not," said Gail sadly. "I can't do any."

"Not any?"

"No."

"How are you going to manage?" the girl asked.

Gail had been wondering that herself, and that thought took some of the joy from the trip.

But when she was helped into a boat she felt almost as excited as the others as they round the headland and saw Hogwarts castle. She was coming home, she felt, but now she belonged.

Hermione had done the usual welcoming speech before leading the first years to the Great Hall to be sorted. She had had an argument with Ginny and Harry that afternoon about where Gail should live. Ginny and Harry wanted her to continue to live with them, while Hermione felt that it was important that she live in the first year dorm of whichever house she was sorted into, just like any other student. Ginny had,of course, pointed out, that unlike any other student, Gail couldn't even walk. The slightly early arrival of the Hogwarts express had stopped their argument before they had come to a conclusion.

The sorting progressed quickly, and soon it was Gail's turn. "Slytherin!" the hat cried, to obvious astonishment from Harry and Ginny and something resembling anger from Ron.

Oblivious to this, Gail smiled and wheeled herself to the Slytherin table where a space was quickly made for her.

Shortly afterwards, the senior prefect of Slytherin house ran to his head of house, who then walked across to Harry. "It seems that not only has a bed has appeared for Gail, but the first year dorm is now equipped with a fireplace with working floo."

Harry nodded, then turned to Ginny. "I think the castle has decided for us where Gail is going to live."

With unaccustomed tears in her eyes, Ginny agreed.

After the feast, Lucius owled his father to report on the sorting as he had the previous year and the Minister exploded with rage. "I will not have that mudblood cripple in Slytherin," he shouted at nobody in particular when he read the message that night.

Later that same night, in bed, Harry and Ginny were talking. "Do you think she's right?" asked Ginny.

"Who?"

"Hermione."

Harry didn't have to ask what Ginny was referring to. "Yeah. I just know she is."

"What are you going to do?"

"Right now? Wait. As she said, Lucius will almost die a third time. Then we'll know for sure."

"But he hates muggleborns, except for Gail."

"I know. That's another reason for waiting. But I'm sure she's right. But what do I do then?"

"What do you mean? Train him, of course. That was the plan."

"Just like that? And just how do I tell a boy he's destined to kill his own father?"

Ginny blanched at the thought and grabbed Harry's arm. "I don't know," she whispered.

**Author's note...**

** Please review. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter ten. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail has saved Lucius Collins' life and been accepted into Slytherin house. But not everyone is pleased.**

A week later the Minister decided to perform an inspection at Hogwarts. This was a power the Minister had had for many years, but had never used, until now. Harry, Ginny and his staff were anticipating all sorts of criticisms and alleged shortcomings, but, to their amazement, not a word was said.

"You and your staff are welcome to stay for this evening's dinner, of course," offered Harry politely.

"No, thank you," the Minister replied stiffly. "That won't be necessary. Everything was... satisfactory." He turned to the ministry staff who had accompanied him, "You may go now, Mrs. Potter will show you to the floo. Now if I may take a few minutes to visit my son?"

If Harry was surprised he didn't show it. After all, what was more natural than a man, even one as powerful as the Minister, wanting to see his son while he was visiting Hogwarts?

"Of course, I'll show you the way myself."

"Not necessary. I can remember." Without another word the Minister headed for the Slytherin quarters. His demeanour changed to irritation, however, when he realised that he'd have to wait for someone to say the password to let him in.

Fortunately for all concerned, he didn't have to wait long. Once inside, he saw his son. "Lucius, let´s go for a walk." If Lucius was taken aback by his father's sudden desire to go for a walk with him, he tried not to show it.

Once outside, his father handed him a small bottle.

"What's this?"

"Just a potion. Give it to the mudblood, then be sure you are somewhere safe with witnesses."

"What will it do?"

His father smiled, something Lucius had rarely seen. "She will feel like a bird. She will climb as high as she can go, then jump. Seconds later, no more mudblood squibs in Slytherin and it will look like a silly accident or suicide."

Lucius was unable to disguise his shock.

His father wasn't pleased at his reaction. "Surely you don't WANT that mudblood squib POTTER in Slytherin." He almost spat out the name Potter.

"She´s not a squib. She saved my life, father."

"It wasn't a request, Lucius Collins."

"No, father," said Lucius, trying to hand him back the bottle. "I owe her my life. She almost died trying to save me..."

"You think I care about your little infatuations? Take it and use it."

"I can´t."

"You know what I will do if you don't." He took out his wand to emphasise his point.

Lucius hesitated, then looked his father in the eye and threw the bottle to the ground, shattering it and it's contents everywhere.

"Then you are no son of mine." He made a slashing motion with his wand and purple flames sped towards his son.

"No!" someone screamed. "Protego!"

At the sound of many footsteps, the Minister turned and ran.

When the pain became enough, he finally tried to open his eyes. All he could see were fuzzy images. "Where am I? I can't see."

"Don't panic, young man. Your eyes will soon be back to normal. You were very lucky."

"I should be dead," Lucius said frankly.

"You would have been if it wasn't for the Potter girl."

He groaned. "Gail? Again?"

"It seems she was suspicious and followed you and your father. When she saw him cast a spell at you, she tried to cast a shield spell. It wasn't strong enough, but it took some of the strength from your father's spell."

"Where is she?" he asked anxiously.

"In class. Her mother finally made her go. She wouldn't leave your side otherwise."

"She's safe then? My father didn't?"

"Didn't what, Mr. Collins?"

"I need to speak with the headmaster."

"He thought you might." She pushed a glass into his hand. "Drink this. It will help your eyesight. I will call him."

It seemed an age to Lucius before he heard footsteps again. The vague fuzzy images had become clearer and now he could make out a face. It spoke.

"Lucius. You have something to say to me, I think? About why your father tried to kill you maybe."

Lucius gasped. He'd known that was what his father had tried to do, but to hear someone say it... it still came as a shock. "You must protect Gail."

"Gail?" Harry suddenly sounded concerned.

"My father wants to kill her."

"Why?"

"He doesn't wants a mudblood squib in Slytherin. I mean..." Lucius was suddenly embarrassed at the terms he'd used so often.

"I understand what you mean," replied Harry in a harder tone of voice. "That doesn't explain why he attacked you."

"He... He wanted me to kill her. He gave me a potion so it would look like an accident."

"And you couldn't do it?"

"She saved my life."

Harry put a hand on Lucius' shoulder. "We'll see she's guarded. And you too. Just concentrate on getting well again."

Back in their quarters that evening, Harry asked Ron, "Any doubts now?"

Ron shook his head. "No. It has to be him. Takes a bit of getting used to though, a Slytherin."

"Yes," said Ginny, "I think Gail noticed that you barely speak to her since she was sorted into Slytherin."

Ron had the grace to look ashamed.

"I don't know why we were all surprised she's a Slytherin," Ginny continued, "she been twisting you and Harry round her little finger as long as she's known us."

Gail had finally been allowed to rejoin Lucius in the hospital wing. "We seem to be making a habit of meeting here," she joked, trying to make light of his thanks.

"I have to tell you something," Lucius replied, ignoring her attempt at humour.

"Yes?"

"I was the one who had you kidnapped. I knew you knew something about the prophecy and I couldn't get it out of your mind, so I tricked you with a port-key."

Gail looked shocked, then quickly recovered herself. "But you refused to kill me when your father ordered you to."

"Who told you?"

"I was there," she said simply. "I heard everything."

"Do you still want to be friends with me?" he asked her.

Ignoring his question, she asked one of her own. "Why did you want to be friends with me?"

Lucius looked ashamed. "My father told me too," he admitted.

"And the others? They are my friends because you told them to?"

He nodded.

Gail turned and wheeled herself from the hospital wing before Lucius could see her tears.

Once her tears had subsided, she burst in on Ron and Hermione without even floo-calling them first. "You were right, Uncle Ron. I should never have been friends with Slytherins."

Taken aback, Ron didn't know what to say. Hermione nudged him.

"No. I wasn't," Ron tried to assure Gail.

"But they only became friends with me because Lucius told them to. And he only did because his father told him to. Now I don't have any friends."

"Gail," said Hermione gently. "It may have started that way, but Lucius was willing for his father to kill him, rather than having to kill you."

"That's only because he thinks he has a life-debt to me."

"Is that what he told you?"

"That's what he told his father, well, more or less," Gail replied. "But he told me, he was the one responsible for me being kidnapped, just because his father wanted to know about some stupid prophecy."

"I knew it," said Ron.

"Shh," snapped Hermione, who then turned back to Gail. "Telling you that must have taken a lot of courage. He's just given up the only family he has, lost his home, his wealth, probably his respect in Slytherin. Right now he needs all the friends he can get. He's tried to be honest with you. Don't you think he at least deserves another chance?"

"I ought to go back to Slytherin, shouldn't I?" Gail asked.

"I think we need to discuss this with Harry and Ginny," insisted Ron before Hermione could reply.

He went to the fireplace and floo-called them. A few minutes later Harry and Ginny joined them.

"Why'd you walk?" asked Ron.

"Ginny insisted," Harry replied. "Doesn't want us getting flabby in our old age."

Ginny just smirked.

"Anyhow, what did you want us for?"

"Gail thinks she should go back to Slytherin, but I think it's dangerous," said Ron. "We know the others in Slytherin pretended to be her friends because Lucius told them to, but any one of them might slip her a potion."

"I won't pretend there aren't risks," argued Hermione. "But I think Lucius needs her now. And to be honest, I think she needs him, and her other friends there."

It became a very one-sided argument, Harry and Ginny fully agreed with Ron, leaving Hermione isolated.

"Where are you going?" asked Ginny suddenly, seeing Gail heading for the fireplace.

"Back where I belong," she answered. "Slytherin."

Too stunned to stop her, the others just watched as she disappeared into a puff of green flame.

"Bravery like that she should have been in Gryffindor," said Ginny.

Even Hermione had to agree with that.

Back in Slytherin, Gail wasn't feeling brave. She pulled her curtains around her bed and manoeuvred herself into bed and cried.

A little while later Michelle had been called by the young girl who had found Gail crying. "What's the matter?" she cried.

"You don't have to pretend any more."

"Pretend what?"

"To be my friend. I know. Lucius told me."

"Told you what?"

"That you're only my friends because he told you to be. See? It's true. I can see it in your face."

"It was true," she admitted. "But that didn't mean that we didn't get to like you. And when you saved Lucius' life, and nearly killed yourself doing it, well, let's say you earned some friends that day. We all thought you'd get sorted into Gryffindor for sure after that. But you're one of us now. Okay?"

"You mean it?"

"If you ever tell anyone I said this, I'll deny it. I'm sorry how we started. Picking on little kids like you was low, even for Lucius. But I'm not sorry you're here with us in Slytherin. And if you need me, you know where my dorm is."

Gail nodded. "Thanks."

A short while later there was a knock on Ron and Hermione's door. "Yes?" said Hermione. "Michelle?"

"Is Professor Potter here? The portraits said he was."

"Yes. Come in. Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you professor."

"Michelle. You wanted me?"

"Er, yes, Sir. I just wanted to say..."

"Yes?"

"You know what happened with Lucius' father? He wanted to kill Gail?"

Harry nodded.

"We were surprised you let her come back to us after that."

Ron snorted at that.

"I just wanted you to know, that if he wants to kill her, he'll have to get past me first. And I'm not the only one who feels that way."

"Why?" asked Ron, incredulous.

"I know you don't think much of Slytherins, sir. But she's one of us now."

"Thank you, Michelle," said Ginny. "I won't pretend we're not worried. I'll sleep easier knowing you're looking out for her."

Michelle nodded, seeming suddenly embarrassed. "I'd better get back. Thank you, professors."

"I think she means it," said Ron, still somewhat amazed.

"Of course she does," said Hermione, smugly.

Late that night Harry, unable to sleep, walked down to his office and sat in his chair. He took a portrait off the wall. "Albus?"

"Huh? What?"

"Sorry to wake you, but I need your advice."

"Any time, my boy."

"Not any more. That was a long time ago."

"You'll always be my boy to me, I'm afraid."

"How do I do it?" Harry asked.

"Do what?"

"Well. We're pretty certain Lucius is the boy in the prophecy and Gail is the golden one. He's only thirteen, Albus, and she's only eleven. How do I tell them something like the prophecy? They're children."

"Yes. Just as you were."

"You know I was so angry with you for not telling me about it long before you actually did. Even years afterwards I was still angry about that. I think I finally understand why. I'm not sure how I'd have coped if you'd told me before, in my first year, or even my second or third year... I feel like they've got a right to know. But I want to protect them as long as I can. When's the right time, Albus? How do I know?"

"You are asking me? I left it probably a year too late, maybe more. I said it before, Harry. You are a better man than I was. You'll know."

"I wish I could be sure of that." Harry sat for a long time in silence, until he finally fell asleep in his chair.

**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter eleven. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**After Lucius is nearly killed by his father, Harry is certain he is the boy in the prophecy, but no nearer to knowing how to tell him.**

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"Come in. Yes, Gail? What brings you here?"

"Professor. I want to leave Hogwarts."

Hermione was stunned. "Leave? I don't understand. Why? Where would you go?"

"I don't mean leave, leave. I mean, stop being a student. I could still live with Mum and Harry, like before."

"This is very sudden. Why?"

"I think the castle made a mistake."

Hermione's eyebrows raised a little at that thought. "Why do you think that?"

"I can't do ANYTHING. I can't do a single charm. I'm useless at potions. And you know what I'm like at transfiguration. And as for Defence..."

Hermione remembered back to the transfiguration lesson where they had to change a matchstick into a needle. None of the students had been successful, which wasn't unusual for a first lesson. Some had almost done it, but without the hole in the top. Others had the shape, but not the silver metallic colour, while others had managed to change the wood to metal, but were left with something that looked like a metal model of a match. Even the worst at least managed to get a point in one end or a silver sheen to the wood. Gail's matchstick had stayed exactly that, a wooden matchstick, no change of shape, texture or colour. Gail had almost run from the class in shame.

It hadn't been helped by her being one of the few who hadn't been able to even make their feathers move a fraction in charms, let alone levitate them.

Hermione shook her mind back to the present. "You're top in your class at History of Magic," she pointed out.

"That's because I don't have to do magic, just listen. I'm so useless at everything else, I decided I'd stay awake just so I could be good at SOMETHING."

"It's only been a month or so..."

"You know what they call me, when they think I'm not listening? The Slytherin Squib."

"I'm sorry. I thought they were your friends."

"I don't mean the Slytherins. They wouldn't dare. When one of them called me that, Michelle hexed her and she couldn't sit down for a week."

Hermione couldn't help but smile. So that's what happened, she thought to herself, remembering the girl's strange behaviour the previous week.

"But the others call me that. Not to my face, and not when there's other Slytherins about – they're all too scared of Lucius and Michelle. Why can't I do any magic?" she pleaded.

"You managed a protego shield to protect Lucius. And that's a spell far more advanced than a first year. Where did you learn that one anyway?"

"You're not the only one who can read, Hermione, sorry, Professor. And I watched some of the DA classes for the older students. And I didn't do it very well anyway. His father still nearly killed him."

"His father is one of the most powerful wizards alive. You weakened his spell enough to save Lucius' life. And don't forget the other time you saved his life."

"But any other time, I can't do magic at all. What's the point of going to classes when I can't do anything?"

"I think you just have to be patient. It'll come."

"You think so?"

Hermione paused for a moment, determined not to give a meaningless knee-jerk answer. "It has to. You have too much power for it not to."

Gail turned away to go and gasped, grabbing her side.

"Back hurting again?"

Gail nodded. "It was worse this time. It seems to be getting worse lately."

But as the term progressed, Gail's performance in class didn't improve. While all the others were becoming proficient at at least the most basic charms, Gail had as much success as a muggle might have had, that is, none. Her performances in her other classes were equally dismal. Ginny and Hermione discussed this.

"Hermione, perhaps Gail's right. Perhaps she'd be happier if we pulled her out of class."

"In the short term, maybe. But we know she's powerful sometimes."

"Then why can't she cast the simplest spell?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted. "But whatever's blocking her will fall one day, and if you've taken her out of class, she'll be a long way behind."

"Does it matter? She's so unhappy right now. I hate to see her like this."

"If it was anyone else, I might agree with you. I hate seeing her trying so hard in class and getting nowhere."

"What do you mean, if it was anyone else?"

"She's part of that prophecy, Ginny."

"I don't like to think about that."

"I know. But she is. And when she finds her magic, she'll need the knowledge she's gaining now, perhaps to save her life, or the lives of others. That's what I think about every time I think of taking her out of class."

"Why does it feel like we're using her, instead of doing what's best for her? Just like everyone did with Harry."

Hermione didn't have an answer and Ginny felt immediately guilty for asking the question. Ginny knew that Hermione had been equally angry at the treatment Harry had so often received from Dumbledore when he was a student. If Hermione thought it was necessary, it probably was. She would never do anything to hurt someone in her charge if she could help it.

But by the last week of term Gail had to be taken out of class. The pain in her back had grown steadily worse, until finally Florence insisted on keeping her in the hospital wing most of the time.

Gail hated it of course, but even a few hours a day at lessons was rapidly becoming too much for her.

She was visited, of course, by her friends, especially Lucius and Michelle, both of whom seemed determined to make sure she didn't miss out of any of the Hogwarts gossip or news.

With Harry and Ginny worrying so much about Gail, it was Hermione that remembered that Lucius had his own problems.

"Lucius, please stay behind after class,"

"Yes, professor."

Lucius was a little nervous. He'd been brought up to dislike Hermione Weasley, who his father saw as responsible for many of the changes he wanted to undo, so Hermione had never been his favourite teacher. So what could she want with him now?

"Lucius. Have you given any thought about what you are going to do over Christmas? You can't go to your father, obviously."

The boy's panicked look showed it hadn't even occurred to him.

"Don't worry. You can stay here at Hogwarts and I do hope you'll join us for Christmas dinner."

Lucius was almost too stunned to reply. "Yes, ma'am," he managed.

"That's settled then. The headmaster would have asked you himself, I'm sure, but he's a little distracted right now."

"Of course."

"Go on then. You don't want to be too late for your next class."

Unlike Gail, an almost empty Hogwarts was something that Lucius was not used to, so he spent quite a bit of time in the hospital wing, trying to cheer Gail up.

A few days before Christmas, as he left, he quietly asked Florence, "She's getting worse, isn't she?"

Florence´s silence was as good as an admission. Certainly she was having to use more and more spells and potions to keep Gail's pain down to a manageable level.

By Christmas Eve, Florence had had to admit to Harry and Ginny, "I still have no idea what's wrong with her. In fact, I can't even FIND anything wrong with her. But it's not put on. Even when she's asleep, she's sweating or tossing and turning from the pain."

Ginny grasped Harry´s hand as he asked the mediwitch, "What do you suggest?"

"I think we need to take her to St. Mungo's. I don't know what they can do, but perhaps they can find something I can't. I'm sorry."

Florence looked guilty, a look Ginny recognised only too well. "It's not your fault, Florence. We know you've done everything you can." Florence nodded sadly.

"Perhaps it would be best if Gail did go to St. Mungo's," said Harry. "You're exhausted, Florence."

Christmas Day was bitterly sad. It wasn't even worth Harry and Ginny visiting Gail as the mediwizard at St. Mungo's had given Gail something which basically made her unconscious for a few days, "to give her at least some time without the pain," as he explained it to a tearful Ginny and ashen-faced Harry.

"I knew I loved her," Ginny cried to Harry later, when they were alone. "But I never knew how much. What if we lose her?"

"We won't," said Harry firmly.

"How can you be sure?"

"Hermione says so," he replied, as if that was the final word on the subject.

Ginny's face almost cracked a smile at his remark.

Hermione had insisted that Lucius spend Christmas Day with her and Ron as Harry and Ginny went in the mood for celebrations. But, to be honest, nor were she, Ron or Lucius. It was probably the most miserable Christmas she could remember.

The week that followed was no better. Visits to St. Mungo's gave none of them any hope. They determined to try to be cheerful around Gail when she was conscious, but Ginny's resolve was tested when Gail asked her, "Mum? Am I dying?"

Ginny's immediate denial was met with a glare which demanded honesty. Despite Hermione's confidence that Gail would survive to fulfil her role in the prophecy, Ginny replied, "We don't know," speaking in almost a whisper.

Surprisingly, Gail seemed satisfied with that answer.

Shortly after New Year, St. Mungo's recommended that Gail be transferred back to Hogwarts. "We can't find anything wrong either and she can be nursed as easily there and she'll probably be happier there."

Ginny asked the mediwizard bluntly, "Is she going to die?"

"I have to be honest with you. I have no idea, Mrs. Potter. We don't know what's causing this, so I can't tell you how it will progress. I would prepare yourselves for the possibility though. We can't find anything physical wrong. We can't find any trace of a curse or other dark magic. I don't like to say this, but we just don't know."

Harry and Ginny's despondency was only tempered by Hermione's continued insistence that, as Gail was part of the prophecy, she had to live to fulfil it. It wasn't much, but it gave them a ray of hope to cling to, the first time Ginny had been pleased that Gail seemed to be part of the prophecy.

With Gail back at Hogwarts, it was soon time for the start of the next term. Most of them knew about Gail's illness. Her absence from lessons at the end of the previous term had caused talk, and the Prophet had written a small article about her, to Harry's surprise, in a subdued and sympathetic tone. So the school seemed unusually quiet and sombre.

It didn't stop the usual rivalries, of course, especially as the Gryffindor v Slytherin quidditch match was coming up soon.

Florence was distracted from Gail by an ever-increasing stream of victims of hexes. One of them, a Ravenclaw boy, seemed to have been hit by his own hex backfiring on him. He seemed to be almost totally drained of magic.

Florence began taking twice daily measurements of his magic level, and was soon relieved to see it slowly increase towards the boy's normal level.

The tension in the school was palpable and all the staff, including Florence, could hardly wait for the match to be over and done with.

Finally, the day of the quidditch match came, and after the match there had been a veritable brawl, and Florence's small hospital wing was filled with casualties, from both physical and magical fights. She had to push the Ravenclaw boy close to Gail.

Tired out from dealing with all the casualties from the brawl, she decided to move him back the following day. She quickly cast her spell to detect his magical level and was startled by the result. Quickly forgetting her tiredness, she moved the Ravenclaw back to his normal bed and cast the spell again. This time it was the result she had expected.

"Is something wrong, Florence?" the boy had asked.

"No. You'll be able to leave the hospital wing in a few days, tomorrow if you give me your word you won't get into any more silly duels."

"Great."

When everyone was asleep, Florence walked quietly up to Gail and cast the spell again.

She immediately went to see Harry and Gail and explained what had happened. "We've been looking in the wrong place. It's not a physical illness."

"But I thought they'd ruled out dark magic?" asked Harry, clutching Ginny's hand, unsure whether he was reassuring her or looking to her for reassurance.

"It's not dark magic," Florence explained. "It's her own magic. I measured it and it's at an incredibly high level. I still don't know why, or how, but I'm sure her own magic is causing the pain."

"Is it still getting worse?" asked Ginny.

"It doesn't seem to be. I think it reached a plateau around Christmas and hasn't really got worse or better since them."

"So why is her magic hurting her?" asked Harry.

"That I don't know," admitted Florence. "I'm wondering if she's actually allergic to magic."

"Is that possible?" asked Ginny.

"Well I've never heard of it before, but then I've never heard of a case like this before. It stumped the best in St. Mungo's."

"So what do we do?"

"Wait, I'm afraid. Try to continue to manage her pain as best we can, and hope it resolves itself."

"And if it doesn't?" Harry couldn't stop himself from asking.

Florence just shook her head and left the couple alone to their worrying. Neither they nor she got much sleep that night.

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**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twelve. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail is seriously ill. Could she really be allergic to her own magic?**

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Gail was having one of her bad days. Some days the pain was less and she didn't need any pain-killing charms or potion, but today wasn't one of them. Even with both the charm and the potion, she was sweating with the pain.

"Harry, I can't bear to see her like this. Is there anything we can give her to remove her magic?"

If Harry was shocked, he tried not to show it. "Florence will know. And if she doesn't, Hermione can find out." That almost made Ginny giggle, as Harry had intended. Hermione's talent for researching until she found out something was legendary, even outside of Hogwarts.

As Florence had been dealing with Gail every day, and was obviously upset at Gail's continued suffering, Harry had expected her to be receptive to Ginny's idea. He was wrong. "There is a potion rumoured to do that. It's only used by some dark families, so I don't know it and wouldn't even know where to find it. If I did, I don't think I would use it."

"Not even to end her pain, Florence?" Harry asked pointedly.

"I know this is harder for you than it is for me," Florence tried to explain, "but this feels wrong. You more than anyone know how much she wanted her magic. And on top of that, I just feel..." Florence faltered.

"Feel what?"

"Like there's more to this than we know. In all my years, I've never heard of someone's own magic turn on them. I'm not sure it's possible. Spells backfire, yes. Your defeat of Voldemort was a prime example."

For a moment Harry felt a surge of pride, not so much at his defeating Voldemort, but that the witch could say the name without fear. Even after all this time, many could not. His wandering thoughts almost made him laugh as he thought of another backfiring spell which had left Ron belching slugs.

Forcing himself back to the present, he said, "Sorry. My mind was wandering for a moment. You were saying?"

"I just feel like we should trust her magic."

"How long? Until it kills her?" Harry asked bitterly.

At first, Florence did not answer. "It won't," she said firmly. "Whatever is happening, she's not getting worse. She's levelled out."

"So we just let her suffer?" snapped Harry angrily and walked away, feeling slightly guilty that he was being unfair to Florence.

Hermione's reaction to the idea of removing Gail's magic somehow was as negative as Florence's had been. "I'm sorry, Harry. I can't help you do that. I could probably find the potion, I but I won't."

"Why Hermione?"

"One. I think Florence is right, it feels right, to trust Gail's magic. Two, like it or not, Gail is part of the prophecy. If you somehow manage to remove her magic, you don't know what it will do. Perhaps it will mean that Lucius won't defeat his father. I love Gail too," Hermione cried, "but we just can't take that risk."

At the thought of returning to tell Ginny what Florence and Hermione had said, Harry wanted to feel angry at them, but he couldn't. He had a nagging feeling that they were right. He just didn't want to admit that right now.

The term went on as normal. Harry was proud to see that the students really were becoming a formidable group now. If Minister Collins or his lackeys did attack any of them, at worst it would be a fight the Minister would never forget. And he felt confident that nobody would be able to mount a successful attack on Hogwarts, as Voldemort had almost succeeded in doing.

Two huge questions remained. What could they do about Gail? And what should he tell Lucius?

Lucius. There was a mystery. He had continued to visit Gail more than anyone as the time went on. Hermione caught him one day to ask him why. "You don't have to sit by her bed that much, just because of a life debt, you know. She'd still want you to live your life, even if she can't."

"Is that what you think?" he had replied, surprisingly angry. "You don't understand."

"Then help me," Hermione asked him.

"She... Gail..." he started, as if there had been any doubt about whom they were talking, "was my first friend." At Hermione's startled reaction, he continued. "The first friend who wanted me. Everyone else hung around me because of who I was, or because of fear. Gail didn't. She was never afraid of me. She'd answer back when she disagreed with me. I know I tricked her into being my friend at first, but it was real to her. Even after she knew, and I know that really hurt her, she didn't back off. I'm so scared I'll lose her." Lucius straightened up suddenly. "I'm rambling. Forget it."

"You're human," Hermione replied. "Someone special to you is suffering and you can't help them. That feels awful, I know."

"I just wish I could take some of her pain sometimes, you know?"

"Just let her know you're there for her. As you are doing."

"It doesn't feel enough."

"It never does."

When Lucius was in class or with the others outside of class, he had changed. Gone was the arrogance. Perhaps having to deal with something so painful where neither power not position could help had taken that from him. But he had also softened. Hermione had watched the hard shell which kept him apart slowly crumble. Others had seen it too. Lucius was no longer automatically the leader in Slytherin, as he had been previously, despite his age, but those around him now were the ones who wanted to be around him. Many of them were also Gail's friends.

When Harry and Ginny had been angry with her for still refusing to help find a potion for Gail, Hermione had mentioned this. "Have you seen Lucius lately?"

"Lucius?" cried Ginny. What's he got to do with this?"

"He's the reason we're here, remember?" asked Hermione sternly.

Ginny looked like she was about to retort something, but didn't. Harry's guilty look told Hermione that she'd hit home with him at least.

"Gail's illness, for want of a better word, has changed him. You must see that. He's not the same person he was a year ago. From what I've heard he doesn't even use the word mudblood any more. He's caring, and not just for Gail. I hate to say this Harry, but he reminds me of you."

"Me? Why?" Harry wasn't sure whether to be insulted or not.

"He reminds me of a lost hurting boy, trying to find his own way. His heart is good, like yours was, despite his background and upbringing. It just took Gail to bring it out. Well," she admitted, "that and his father trying to kill him."

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The Easter break was not much different to the Christmas one. Gail remained in bed most of the time, but this time Lucius stayed with her whenever he could, until Florence chased him outside to get some sun or something.

"Lucius?" asked Gail quietly one afternoon. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he replied more casually than he felt.

"Can you take me flying? I still haven't done it." Not only had Gail been the only one in her class not to have been able to fly by the end of the lesson, she hadn't even been able to successfully command her broom to lift off the ground.

Lucius was taken aback by her request and she immediately said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked..."

"Shut up, Gail. Of course I'll take you."

Gail squealed so loud in excitement that it brought Florence running to see what the problem was. When they were alone again, Lucius said, "We'll have to plan it so we can sneak you out without anyone knowing."

Gail grinned at the thought, and a strange feeling went through Lucius at the sight of that.

With Harry and the rest of the staff busy with preparation for the year's final exams (even Ron had been roped in to help by Hermione), it was easier than they thought to find a time to sneak out. They'd only had to wait a few days.

Lucius had brought a cloak for Gail to wear over her nightdress, but the day was warm enough for her not to need it.. "Put it on anyway," he insisted. "It gets cold when you are flying fast."

Her grin at the thought of him going fast with her was enough reward already for this, he couldn't help thinking, wondering how he could ever have despised the girl.

Florence had gone down to the gardens and greenhouses to select more ingredients to make her potions, so Lucius thought that they had at least an hour. He carefully picked her up, trying to ignore her gasp of pain as he did so, placed her in her chair and wheeled her to the floo and they came out in the entrance hall. "At least the cloak kept the soot off your nightdress," he laughed as he flicked some soot from her nose.

To retaliate she went to flick some soot from his face, but just rubbed it in instead. "It should have been round your eyes," she complained. "You'd make a good panda."

Silently he wheeled her outside and towards the broom shed where he's previously put his broom. Normally, like most students with their own broom, he kept his broom in his dorm, but it was easier to have it ready in the broom shed.

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They didn't know it, but Gail was being talked about, even while the staff were trying to concentrate on the exams.

"Has anyone else noticed, or is it just me, but Gail seems happier the last few days?"

Hermione's slight irritation at Ginny distracting them all from their work was tempered by the fact that Ginny actually seemed happy about Gail. Ginny hadn't really forgiven Hermione yet for her refusal to help remove Gail's magic, so to hear her saying something good about Gail's condition was more encouraging than it would have been otherwise.

"It's true," said Ron. "She's actually had a smile on her face, even for me." Gail's relationship with Ron hadn't been as good since his initial angry reaction to Gail being sorted into Slytherin. After he and Hermione had spent so much time with Lucius over Christmas, he had to admit that the boy, young man, had definitely changed, Slytherin or not, and Ron had made a great effort to repair his relationship with Gail.

"Yeah," said Harry. "At times she seems so happy that if it was Ginny, I'd think she was plotting something."

"Ha Ha," responded Ginny, kicking her husband until the table, then, "You don't think she is, do you?"

"Even Gail can't do much lying in bed in the hospital wing," said Harry.

"Especially with 'Eyes Everywhere Florence' keeping watch," laughed Ron.

They might have changed their mind if they could have seen Lucius gently lifting Gail from her chair onto his broom.

"Hold tight," he told her.

Gail didn't need telling. There was enough fear mixed with her excitement to make her grasp Lucius around the chest so tightly he had to ask her, "Not quite THAT tight. I need to breathe."

"Sorry."

"Ready."

She nodded, then realised that he couldn't see her nod and said, "I'm ready."

Slowly the broom swept into the air. Lucius didn't want to take any chances with his precious 'cargo' and was taking it easy.

"Higher! Faster!" cried Gail.

"You sure?"

"Yes, yes."

The broom sailed through the quidditch hoops and high over the pitch, then Lucius decided to circle Hogwarts, to show her the castle from all angles.

Suddenly he heard a voice booming at him. "Lucius Collins. Meet me at the main entrance right now."

"I got you in trouble," said Gail, guiltily.

"It's okay," he replied. "I'll take you straight back to the hospital wing, then go down there."

"No you won't. He'll be easier on you if I'm there too, especially as it was my idea."

Lucius wasn't so sure about that, but the idea of facing an angry Harry Potter alone was not a pleasant one.

They didn't have long to wait. Harry came storming out of the main doors, "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Stop! It's not his fault," cried Gail.

"Of course it is."

"It was my idea."

"I don't care. He's older. I expect him to be responsible." Harry turned to Lucius. "I'm removing your flying priv..."

"Harry!" Harry was interrupted by a voice from behind. "We need to talk. Now."

Harry glared angrily at Ginny, then turned back to Lucius. "You two. Wait here. Don't move until I get back." Then he followed Ginny into the castle.

"Harry. Gail's been happier these last few days than we've seen her for months. Don't take this away from her."

Harry's argument was flattened in a moment. Ginny was right. They'd only just been talking about it.

"They should have asked," he replied feebly.

"And we'd have said no," said Ginny. "You know we would. And if we didn't, Florence would have."

Lucius and Gail hadn't moved when Harry followed Ginny back outside.

"Did you enjoy it?" Ginny asked Gail softly.

Quickly grasping that Ginny wasn't angry, Gail replied, "It was great, Mum. In fact, great doesn't even come close."

"You," said Harry to Lucius. "Next time you take her flying, tell us what you're doing."

Lucius was amazed he seemed to be getting off without any kind of punishment. "Yes, sir."

"We can go again?" cried Gail, "Yippee."

Ginny laughed at her ten year old, who suddenly seemed about five years old at that moment.

"Now take Gail back to the hospital wing before Florence finds out," instructed Harry.

Without a reply, Lucius sailed upwards, heading for the big open window at one end of the hospital wing, unaware that Florence was already back in her office and had been watching them from her window with a smile on her face.

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**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter thirteen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail is still seriously ill and a cure seems no nearer.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gail's condition didn't change, but Florence encouraged what rapidly became daily flying trips when she realised that they took Gail's mind off of her pain, if only for a while.

Lucius may have changed a lot, but, as Michelle had pointed out to him, he was still a natural show-off, and there was nobody he enjoyed showing off to more than Gail.

He had begun showing her some of the manoeuvres he used in quidditch, and she was rapidly becoming impatient and demanding that he take her along with him, instead of leaving her on the ground while he did his demonstrations.

Despite his worries about her safety, she finally nagged him enough to persuade him.

"Show me the one that's named after Uncle Ron that makes everyone faint with shock," she cried.

"The what?"

"The Ronsy faint."

Lucius laughed. "It's not named after Ron Weasley. It's Wronski, with a W. And it's feint with an E, for pretending that you're going after the snitch."

"I don't care, let's do it anyway."

"Hold on tight, then."

Normally Lucius had no real problems with that manoeuvre, but the extra weight made him misjudge it and they ploughed into the ground.

Amazingly, he was unhurt apart from a few bruises. He got up stiffly and hobbled over to where Gail had been thrown.

"My ankle hurts," she said through her tears as she rubbed her right ankle.

Once he had her back in the hospital wing, Florence confirmed it was broken. "You say it hurt?"

"A lot," agreed Gail. "But it's better now."

"That's because I've repaired the break. But you've never been able to feel anything in your legs."

"I felt that," Gail insisted with a grimace.

Florence held her wand over Gail's right leg and closed her eyes. "That'll be okay now," she said, in a strangely absent-minded voice.

She allowed a very guilty-feeling Lucius to come in and sit with Gail, while she walked up to the Headmaster's office.

"Gail broke her ankle and it hurt her," she began without preamble.

"Will she be alright?"

"Of course," huffed Florence a the slight to her abilities. "She already is. You don't understand, do you?"

"What is there to understand?"

"It HURT her."

"Of course it did." Harry looked at Florence and saw the exasperation in her face. "Am I being thick about something?"

"She hasn't felt anything in her legs since she came here. This hurt her. She felt it. I did a wandscan of her nervous system. Previously the nerves to her legs and feet were dead. Now they are almost totally grown back. I think this explains the pains and her lack of magic."

"How?"

"You know how painful it is to regrow bones?"

Harry grimaced at the memory.

"Well nerves are much more difficult, and obviously much more painful. Usually we can't even grow those back. It's supposed to be impossible. It seems that since she got her magic back, all of Gail's magic had been syphoned into repairing her nerves."

Over the next week or two, Gail could feel more and more from her legs. She began to get frustrated at Florence's constant poking as she tested to see where Gail could feel.

"Who cares about feeling them anyway?" she snapped. "I want to be able to USE them, so I can kicked this damned chair away."

"Gail. Do that again!"

"What? Do what again?"

"When you wanted to kick the chair, your leg moved. Just a little, but it moved."

No matter how much Gail tried, and how much Florence encouraged her, she couldn't make her leg move again.

"Don't worry, my dear. It'll come. I promise you."

Florence was right. Within a few days Gail could wiggle her toes. Florence began a tough regime of physiotherapy, muggle-style, working Gail hard each day until Gail almost wished she couldn't feel her legs any more.

Her only respite was her daily flying with Lucius, who point-blank refused to risk her again by doing stunts with her on his broom.

Gail had begged Florence not to tell Harry or Ginny too much about her progress, and soon it was time for the end of school year feast.

"I thought you were bringing Gail," asked Ginny.

"She didn't want me to," explained Florence.

"Feeling down again?"

Fortunately Florence was spared the need to reply by green flames from the floo nearest the head table. Gail appeared, standing precariously between two sticks. She struggled forward, her steps agonisingly slow as she crossed the short distance to the table. As she had almost made it, she tried to rush and fell. Harry was quick to catch her and stop her from falling.

Whatever he said to her was lost in the huge cheer which erupted. "Honesty," cried Gail. "You'd think I'd just won the quidditch cup all by myself," Her smile told a different story. She was so pleased and proud of herself. "Can someone take me to the Slytherin table, please? I didn't think I could walk that far."

Harry scooped her up in his arms and deposited her next to Lucius. "Thank you," he quietly said to the boy. Without his encouragement, he knew Gail would not have had the will to struggle this far.

The boy's eyes glistened as he nodded his acknowledgement. Michelle and the others crowded around Gail, hugging her.

"Sir," Lucius asked Harry, "Do you know what I'm going to be doing now?"

"What do you mean?"

"For the summer holidays. I can't go home."

"Merlin, I'm stupid. I'm sorry, Lucius, I'm supposed to be here for you and I didn't even think. Quite a few students whose parents are away at the International Wizarding Conference are staying anyway until their parents can pick them up. But you are welcome to stay with us for the whole holidays. If you want to that is."

"I'd like that very much. Sir, what did you mean by you're supposed to be here for me?"

Harry looked stunned for a moment. "Nothing," he muttered. "Nothing at all. Just that I'm here to look after you all."

Lucius was puzzled as he'd never known Headmaster Potter to lie before, but decided that now wasn't the time to take it further.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Have you thought about what we should do about Gail's lessons?" asked Hermione, two days into the summer holiday.

"No, I assume you have," replied Harry.

"Of course. Well she really needs to start from the beginning. She missed most of year one, and when she was there she couldn't do any practical magic."

"Will she be able to now?"

"I think so," Hermione answered him. "Florence wants to leave it another week or so before she tries any magic. She's got enough to do learning how to walk all over again."

"She won't like being put back a year, in with those a year younger than she is."

"It's worse than that."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, when she was ill, I decided to try to find out anything I could about her history, just in case there were any clues there."

"Yes, I remember. You told me you didn't find anything."

"I didn't find anything relevant, no. I did find her birth certificate. Here." She handed it to him.

"But this can't be right."

"I checked. It is. For some reason her father kept her at home rather than sending her to school until he couldn't get away with it any longer. He moved from area to area, so nobody really knew anything about her. She's actually a year older than she thinks."

"But she's so small. She was small for her age anyway, I mean, the age we thought she was."

"Not being fed properly all your life will do that to you. I seem to remember that you were small for your age until you came to Hogwarts."

"So really she should be going into year three now. So why was her Hogwarts letter a year late?"

"I'm guessing she wasn't ready, until her magic started breaking out to save Lucius. But whatever the reason behind that, we have to decide what to do with her next year."

"Well she can't go into year three, that's for sure," said Harry.

"I agree. But what about, if Florence says it's okay, I start tutoring her through the summer. She's bright. With one on one tutoring she should be able to catch up the theory at least. And I'm sure you and Ginny can help her catch up on the practical, though I'd prefer it if you can get Ginny not to teach her a certain bat-bogie hex."

Harry laughed. "No promises there. Do you really think she can do it?"

"As I said, she's bright. And we know she's powerful. If she really wants to, she can do it, I'm sure."

"You can be the one to tell her she's going to spend all summer studying, though."

"Coward," joked Hermione.

"Hey, I'm the Hero Of The Wizarding World," Harry exclaimed. "You can't call me a coward."

"That was over fifty years ago, oh Chosen One," laughed Hermione. "And I seem to remember there was more than just you in that tent."

"I never could win an argument with you."

"Took you long enough to learn that one. But you're right. I should tell her this. It should come from me as I'm the one responsible for the academic program here."

"Did I just win that argument?" Harry asked, amazed.

"No, you didn't," replied Hermione firmly. "But I'll see Gail this evening. Anyhow, I've got the easy part."

"What do you mean?"

"You've still got to decide what you're going to tell Lucius, and when. The way he looks at you, he knows you're hiding something from him. He just has no idea what and he's too much in awe of you to challenge you."

For once, Hermione was wrong.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With her magical power available to her instead of healing her body, Gail proved to be a natural with her wand. The theory she had learned the previous year came together and Ginny was amazed at how quickly she mastered basic charms like Wingardium Leviosa ('quicker than you, Ron', she hadn't been able to resist pointing out) and simple transfigurations.

She was reasonably adept at potions, for which Hermione took her for both theory and practical, but seemed uninterested in Defence Against the Dark Arts. She point blank refused to learn Ginny's trademark bat-bogie hex. "Mum. My magic killed my father. I don't ever want to have to use it to hurt anyone ever again."

For once in her life, Ginny had no reply.

Later Harry explained to her that if good people didn't learn defensive and offensive spells, wizards like Voldemort could come and go and there would be nobody to stop the killing. "I didn't want to kill either," he confessed to her. "But if it's a choice between killing someone who is evil and seeing innocent people killed, then the way I see it is that we have a responsibility to stop the evil if we can, no matter what."

"I suppose you're right, but I don't have to like it."

"I hope you never do like it. That's what makes us different from deatheaters and their like."

After that conversation, Gail put more effort into her Defence work, but as she said to Harry one evening after she'd been practising with him and Lucius, "I hope I never have to use these spells."

Harry's startled her by looking guiltily at both her and Lucius and almost running from the room.

"Now I KNOW he's hiding something," said Lucius.

"You don't think it could be something about that prophecy your father wanted to know about, do you?"

Lucius left the room almost as quickly as Harry had done, leaving a furious Gail alone. She still could only walk slowly and carefully.

As Lucius had guessed, Harry had gone straight to Ginny.

"I couldn't bear it. Knowing what he's going to have to face, and there was Gail saying how she hoped she would never have to use the defensive spells."

"You are going to have to tell them sometime," replied Ginny.

"I know. But how do you tell someone something like that? I know how Dumbledore felt now."

"They're both intelligent kids," Ginny pointed out. "If you don't tell them, they'll figure out something by themselves. If they get it wrong, it could be dangerous. If they get it right, they'll never forgive you for not telling them."

"But how?" pleaded Harry.

Lucius burst into the room. "It's me, isn't it?"

"What?"

"I'm the one in the prophecy my father wanted to know about. I'm the one you were looking for."

A shocked-into-silence Harry and Ginny gave him his reply.

"So, when were you going to tell me? And what is going to happen to me?"

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**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	14. Chapter 14

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter fourteen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Caught out by Lucius, Harry is forced to explain about the prophecy.**

"Well?" Lucius repeated the question when neither Harry nor Ginny had answered him.

"You are correct," said Harry. "There is a prophecy. The prophecy was made when you were ten years old. It was made by the same person who made the prophecy about me. When I came here, we had no idea who it was about. Professor Weasley guessed first, but it was only when your father tried to kill you that we became almost certain that it refers to you."

"Almost certain? So it might not be me."

"Long years of experience have taught me that Professor Weasley is usually right. And none of us can think of anyone else who fits the prophecy as you seem to."

"What do I have to do?"

"It's probably best if I simply read it to you. Then you'll know as much as we do."

Lucius nodded.

"And the darkness shall rule once more.

But one shall stand, who now has lived ten years,

Thrice returned from the dead,

From out of the dark, he shall battle the darkness,

Saved from himself, he and the golden one,

Four shall fight but only one survive."

"My father is the darkness it talks about, isn't he?"

"Yes. We believe so."

"Out of the dark. That's me alright. This is gonna sound weird, but it's like I've known for years. I can't explain it."

Harry smiled for the first time. "I understand. When Professor Dumbledore told me about my prophecy, it just seemed like I'd known for years it would come down to me and Voldemort."

Lucius nodded briefly. "And three times I should have been killed. I would be dead if it wasn't for Gail. She's the Golden One in the prophecy, isn't she? She has to be."

"Yes. We think so."

"It say four. Who are the others?"

"We don't know," replied Harry. "Hermione thinks it could mean two others to fight with you, or it could mean one other to fight with you against your father, or even that your father has an ally to fight with against you."

"So we don't know much then."

"That's partly why I wanted to wait before telling you. And, to be honest, you're both so young. Neither of you has had much of a childhood. I wanted you both to have at least a few happy years without the pressure of the prophecy."

"I don't think my father will stand by and let that happen. I'm surprised he hasn't had me attacked by now." Lucius thought for a moment. "You think I have to kill him don't you? My own father?"

"Yes," replied Harry, in almost a whisper.

"It doesn't actually say that though. That I have to kill him. It just says I have to battle the darkness."

"It does say only one will survive. I'm sorry to say this to you, but I hope that one is NOT your father."

"Only one survives," mused Lucius. "Then it must be Gail," he said firmly.

Harry's heart went out to the young man in front of him, already having to think about protecting those he cared about. It brought back too many unhappy memories. His mind wandered for a while then he was brought back to the present by Lucius asking him something... "Sorry?"

"I asked, does Gail know about this?"

"No," Harry admitted.

"Should I tell her?"

"I think that has to be your decision."

"But you'd rather I didn't?"

"Honestly? I don't know. Just try not to scare her."

"I'll have to think about whether it's right to tell her yet or not. It's not easy. How do you know the right time?"

Harry almost laughed. "You don't. Why do you think I still hadn't told you?"

"Do you think she suspects?"

"You'd probably know that better than I would."

"Mrs. Potter. Can you take Gail away? Somewhere safe?"

Harry couldn't help smiling at that. Lucius' reaction was the same as his had been with Ginny, all those years ago.

Ginny wasn't smiling, although Harry could tell she was remembering the same things he was. "I wish I could. But, as Herm... Professor Weasley is always reminding us, whether we like it or not, Gail is part of the prophecy. Eventually your father will find out and then she won't be safe anywhere. At least here, we can protect her."

"I don't want her fighting with me," he insisted. "If only one can survive, I'll make damn sure it's her. She's got so much to offer." He turned and left the room abruptly.

As he was about to close the door, he heard Harry say quietly, "So do you, Lucius. Don't forget that."

"Well? What was that all about?" demanded Gail, when Lucius got downstairs to the common room. "Was it worth leaving me to struggle on my own?"

"Sorry," Lucius mumbled.

"You haven't answered my question. Is something wrong?"

"No. It's alright. I'm just going to bed. I'm tired."

"Don't you dare walk away like that..." But she was talking to an empty room. Lucius had gone.

Later that evening an owl left Hogwarts. "Father. I hope your business in Africa finishes soon so that I come can home for the rest of the holiday. I have something important to tell you."

To her annoyance Lucius had refused to tell Gail any more the next day, in fact he seemed to be avoiding her. Apart from making her cross, it didn't really bother her much. But when he continued to avoid her for the rest of the week, she went to Ginny, crying.

"Mum. What did I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Lucius doesn't like me any more."

Ginny sighed. "It's not that. You didn't do anything. He just had some bad news and he needs some time to adjust, that's all."

"Are you sure?"

Ginny nodded brightly and Gail realised that she wasn't going to get any more out of her.

Half an hour later, she was at Hermione's door, again in tears, but this time forced. She hoped Hermione couldn't smell the onion on her fingers. She'd rubbed her eyes until they were really sore.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, her face such a picture of concern that Gail felt more than a little guilty.

"Lucius doesn't like me any more."

"I'm sure he does..."

"Then why's he avoiding me?"

Hermione faltered. Where was Ginny when you needed her? "It's just... He's got a lot on his mind right now," she finished weakly.

"It's that stupid prophecy, isn't it?" Gail asked quietly, her headdown, buried in her hands. Hermione wouldn't notice that her fingers were apart so Gail could watch Hermione's reaction. Hermione couldn't lie well, which is why she'd tried this on her.

Hermione looked stricken and didn't know what to answer the girl. She was saved from the decision by Gail's triumphant, "Thank you. I knew it. Well I won't let him avoid me."

Gail left the room and went straight to Lucius' dorm where she'd correctly guessed he'd be hiding out.

"You're not allowed in here..." Lucius began, then, seeing her reddened eyes, "What's wrong?"

"You don't like me any more. Why?"

"I... It's not that... It's just..."

"Just what?" retorted Gail, with fire in her voice.

"I can't say."

"You think you have to push me away because of some stupid prophecy?"

"It's not a stupid prophecy," he shouted at her, then realised from her grin that she'd tricked him into confirming what she'd wanted to know. "You're definitely a Slytherin," he almost laughed.

"Every bit of me," she agreed. "Now. What is it about this prophecy that makes you want to push me away? You're not going all noble and Gryffindor on me and trying to protect me, are you?" She'd emphasised the word Gryffindor like it was an insult.

"You can't understand," he replied, ignoring the challenge in her gibe at him.

"Not if you won't tell me, I can't."

"You'll hate me," he said.

Gail snorted. "If I don't hate you by now, do you really think some stupid prophecy is gonna do that?"

"I have to fight my father," he admitted.

"Is that all?" she said, determined to make light of it. "It's not like it wasn't obvious."

"What do you mean?"

"Your father being all worried about some prophecy, then trying to kill you, and everyone here going on about you having bad news..."

"What are you, a Ravenclaw now?"

"Now who's being insulting? Anyhow, they aren't the only ones with two brain cells to rub together."

Lucius almost laughed. Almost.

"So. Are you going to tell me what it said?"

He grabbed her hand... "Where are we going?"

"Taking you to your dad."

"He's not my dad..."

"Professor Potter then. He can tell you the exact words."

When they got there, they found Hermione talking with Ginny and Harry, obviously she'd been worried about Gail enough to go to them.

"You've been crying," said Harry, concerned, then looking up at Lucius.

"Honestly, it's only onions," she said, exasperated. "Otherwise I'd never had got anyone to say anything."

"True Slytherin," muttered Ron, who she hadn't seen in a chair in the corner. But this time there was no animosity in the phrase.

"So," said Gail, determined not to let anyone change the subject. "Tell me this prophecy."

"Better than that, I'll show you both," Harry agreed, leading them to the pensieve.

Lucius and Gail ducked their heads down into the pensieve and Professor Trelawney's voice spoke again...

"And the darkness shall rule once more.

But one shall stand, who now has lived ten years,

Thrice returned from the dead,

From out of the dark, he shall battle the darkness,

Saved from himself, he and the golden one,

Four shall fight but only one survive."

Immediately the prophecy had finished, Gail spoke, sounding more nervous and less sure of herself than usual. "The golden one. That's me, isn't it?" She was looking at Ginny for confirmation.

Ginny nodded. "Yes. At least we think so."

"I think so too. I didn't know it was about me too. Who are the other two?"

Hermione explained her thoughts on who the other two of the four could be.

"So you don't know," confirmed Gail.

Hermione looked abashed at having to admit it. "No, but it'll become clear as time goes on, just as the first two have."

"So what do we do?" Gail asked.

"Learn as much as you can, while you can," said Harry. "And don't go and try to take him on before you're ready."

"How will I know when I'm ready?" asked Lucius, the idea that he could ever be as powerful as his father seeming ludicrous to him.

"You'll know when the time comes," said Harry, for the first time in that conversation feeling sure of himself.

"Did you?"

"Yes, in the end. It wasn't really that I had much of a choice by then."

"You could have said no and walked away," Lucius pointed out.

"With all the people who had fought and died, and were still fighting and dying to give me the chance to kill him? Could you walk away from that?"

"I think I could. I'm not brave like you."

"Rubbish," snapped Gail. "The way you faced your father..."

"I didn't have time to think about it. Come on, let's go for a fly."

Surprised for a moment, but then deciding that obviously Lucius didn't want to talk about it any more, Gail just smiled and nodded and the two of them left the room.

"Whew," sighed Harry. "I think that was worse than when I had to tell him. There's one good thing though."

"What's that?" asked Ginny.

"At least Gail didn't notice the bit about only one surviving."

"Oh?" replied Hermione. "Do you really think so? I think she understood perfectly."

Ron, Harry and Ginny looked alarmed at that and silently hoped that Hermione was wrong for once.

**Author's note...**

**Please review. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter fifteen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Now Lucius and Gail know about the prophecy.**

"Are you sure that's what they said?"

"Yes, dad. They were talking about Lucius killing his father."

"They actually said that?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?"

"And how did you come to hear this anyway?"

"Well, Lucius suddenly walked out on Gail, that's his girlfriend, and ran to find Professor Potter. He'd just acted weird and run off from them. So, I was curious, that's all."

"And do you think it was right spying on them?"

"No," the girl admitted shamefaced, "but it was a good job I did, wasn't it? I did the right thing telling you didn't I?"

"Yes. Although I can't stand the man, or his politics, the Minister has a right to know if his son and the headmaster of Hogwarts are planning to kill him. And he is my boss, after all. You're really really sure?"

The girl sighed, exasperated.

"Okay. You are. Don't worry I won't say how I came by the information."

Three days later, he was standing in the corridor outside the Minister's office with his daughter.

"You promised me you wouldn't say how you knew," she said, more scared than angry.

"I didn't. He can read minds when he wants to."

"So I suppose he wants to read mine."

"Yes."

Afterwards, the Minister assured him, "Your daughter will remember nothing, nothing of hearing them speak the prophecy, nor of their discussion, nor of her telling you, nor of this visit today. It's best if she knows nothing."

"I understand, Sir."

"Oh. One final thing. Obliviate!"

Afterwards, the Minister called a meeting of his closest supporters. "I have a job for you to do."

They'd come early to Diagon Alley to get the things Lucius and Gail would need for the following year, hoping to avoid the usual last minute crowds.

"It seems strange seeing their shop when he's not here," said Ginny. Even though Fred had been gone so many years and it had been George's shop all that time, it was still "their" shop to all the Weasleys, George included.

"Yeah, it does," Harry agreed. "But I'm glad he's away, safe."

"I hope he's got the sense to stay away."

"This is George you're talking about," laughed Harry. "Even now, sense isn't a word I think of much when I'm thinking about him."

Rather than laughing, Ginny looked worried. "They are safe there, aren't they? All of them? I couldn't bear to lose anyone else."

"Safer even than at Hogwarts," said Harry, trying to reassure her.

Gail spoke up, determined not to be left out of the conversation any longer. "You mean safer than the place where Voldemort possessed a teacher to try to kill you in your first year, then possessed Mum and tried to kill you both in your second year, you got attacked by dementors in your third year, battled Voldemort in your fourth year, and were tortured by a teacher in your fifth year? Not to mention seeing the headmaster murdered in your sixth year and actually being killed by Voldemort the following year before coming back to life to battle him again? That's safe?"

Ginny had gone pale at all that, so Harry just said, "Thanks, Gail. Your mum really needed that right now."

"I'm sorry, Mum," Gail cried, "I'm sure it's much safer in Beauxbatons."

"I hope so."

"Can we go inside?" asked Lucius, in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

"Let you and Gail loose in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry teased. "What do you think, Ginny?"

"Hmm. I don't know," replied Ginny, getting in on the teasing.

"If we promise we won't set fireworks on the head teacher?" offered Gail.

Harry laughed. "Go on then. But stay in there. Ginny and I will go to get your books for the next year and then we'll come to get you and we'll all get some ice cream."

"Okay, Sir," said Lucius politely.

Even coming early, when there weren't so many in Diagon Alley, Harry of course had the inevitable problem that many of the people visiting the alley wanted to talk with him, either because he was headmaster to their children or simply to talk to him because he was "the" Harry Potter, who defeated the Dark Lord so many years ago.

"They're taking ages," said Gail, impatiently. "Let's go get some ice cream."

"The Professor said to wait here," argued Lucius.

"But the ice cream shop is half way. We can meet them there."

Before Lucius could answer, Gail was out of the shop.

By the time he had caught up with her, they were aware of screams from behind them. They turned to see a group dressed all in black, the faces covered and their wands out.

Before they had time to react, Gail heard the word "Stupify!" and everything went black.

"She's waking up."

Gail's head was hurting, but she could hear voices that sounded as if they were a long way away. She tried to open her eyes and immediately shut them again as the bright lights made her head worse. She settled for squinting through partly open eyes until they adjusted to the light. "Where am I?"

"Don't worry. You're in my shop." The voice was familiar.

"Uncle George? What are you doing here?"

"No gratitude, some families. That was the first thing Harry and Ginny said as well."

Another voice answered, "We're grateful, George. Don't think we're not. It was just a shock seeing you."

"Mum? Why can't I see properly?"

"It's okay. You were hit by about three or four stunners. It's just the after effects. It wear off soon."

"What happened?"

"What happened is you both left a safe place when we specifically told you not to."

"Don't blame Lucius. He just came after me." Then, louder and more urgently, "Is he alright? They didn't get him, did they?"

"No. He's alright. Uncle George turned up just in time."

"Good. Where is he?"

"Probably wishing he was at least a hundred miles further from Harry right now, if Harry's expression was anything to go by when he apparated them both back to Hogwarts." That was Uncle George.

"But you can't apparate into Hogwarts," Gail objected.

"He IS the headmaster," Ginny pointed out. "He can charm the wards to recognise him if he wants to."

"Oh."

"You still haven't explained what you were doing young lady."

"Nor has Uncle George. I thought you were in France."

George grinned and decided to let Gail off the hook for a while. He wouldn't want Ginny angry with him either. "It's peak season for us, the weeks before Hogwarts starts are almost as busy as the run-up to Christmas, so I came to help. And without some contact with my customers, I can't get ideas for improvements or new products."

"I bet Angelina loved that idea," replied Ginny.

"She wasn't too enthusiastic about it," George admitted. "But it's just as well I did. Nobody else was going to do anything. And when I heard the noise just after this young lady sneaked out of my shop, I just ran. I managed to stun three of them, but the others apparated them away."

"Yeah, they saw Harry and I running towards them. I guess Harry and even Angelina will have to let you off being where you weren't supposed to be. But as for you, young lady..."

"I only wanted some ice cream. I thought we'd meet you half way." It sounded feeble even to Gail.

Perhaps Ginny remembered some of her own escapades as a girl as she simply answered, "Well next time, if there is a next time, don't. It's too dangerous."

Puzzled but relieved that she was getting off so lightly, Gail simple said, "Yes, Mum. I'm sorry."

All the same it was an uncomfortable dinner that night.

"Why are you still cross with Lucius?" Gail asked Harry.

"You could have been captured or killed. He's older. He should have known better than to lead you off into..."

"He didn't lead me anywhere. He was coming after me to stop me!" cried Gail, torn between anger and exasperation.

"But he said..."

Gail suddenly smiled. "Did he?" She turned to look at the young man, sitting there quietly. "Lucius, that was almost Hufflepuff of you."

Lucius just looked embarrassed.

He was saved from further embarrassment by Ron of all people. "The thing we need to think about is, does this attack mean that the Minister knows about the prophecy somehow?"

"Not necessarily," said Ginny. "We already know he wants Gail dead and he tried to kill Lucius as well."

"It doesn't make any difference at the moment," pointed out Hermione.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Whether he wants them dead because of the prophecy, or whether he just wants them dead anyway, they'll have to be confined to the castle."

Gail groaned.

"It's not as if we go out much anyway," Lucius pointed out.

"Yeah, but she means the castle, not the grounds, don't you Professor?"

"I'm afraid so," Hermione replied, "unless there's a teacher present."

"It's not fair," cried Gail, rapidly getting in a temper.

"No, it's not," agreed Harry. "But until he can be stopped some other way, we have to protect you both."

"Because he's the Chosen One?" snapped Gail.

"Where did you hear that term?" asked Ginny.

"Uncle Ron called him that."

"Oh. But no, not because of that. Harry would want to protect you, regardless of who you are, he's got this... what did you call it, Hermione?"

Getting in on the rare chance to tease Harry, Hermione replied, "His saving people thing."

Once again Ron broke the mood. "I think we should ask Luna to help them train."

"What?" asked Harry. "Why Luna?"

"We're teaching all the kids everything we know to protect themselves. Lucius and Gail need an edge."

"From Luna?" asked Hermione incredulously.

"Yeah."

"What can she teach them that we can't?"

"It's not that she knows any spells we don't," Ron explained. "But as Harry always says, she has a different way of look at things. She's unpredictable. She'll use spells that nobody expects in a battle, or in a different way to how they expect them."

Hermione grinned. "You mean like using Wingardium Leviosa to battle a troll?"

Ron blushed. "You lot are never gonna let me forget that, are you?"

"Never," replied Harry, Ginny and Hermione together, laughing.

The rest of the holidays was taken up with preparations for the new school year. The other teachers returned first, but to everyone's surprise, when the Hogwarts Express arrived a few days later, they had a visitor.

"Professor!" cried Hermione, immediately bending down to hug her old transfiguration teacher.

"Hello, Hermione," laughed Professor McGonagal. "How is everyone?"

"Fine. Is there any special reason for this visit?"

"Can't I drop in on old friends sometime?"

"Of course." Hermione immediately felt ashamed.

"Thank you. But as you probably guessed, I'm here to see Harry about something. Can you take me?"

"Of course I will."

Hermione pushed the elderly professor to the floo that would take her straight to Harry's office.

Harry was getting ready for the welcoming feast. "Professor McGonagal!"

"Don't let me stop you. I just came down on the train to see you. But I can spare the evening."

"Sure. Will you stay the night?"

"I should really get back, but, okay, if you can spare a bed."

Harry grinned. "I think we'll manage. The train, you say? Why didn't you floo straight here? I'd have opened it for you."

"I couldn't resist one last trip on the old Hogwarts Express. It hardly seems to have changed, like this place."

"Was there anything special you wanted?"

"Yes. I thought you ought to know. Friends in the Ministry tell me that there are rumours about a new Chosen One and Golden One."

"Golden One?"

"Yes. It seems somehow, the prophecy has leaked."

Harry sighed. "Then the Minister will spare no effort to kill them."

The elderly professor took his hand. "I'm sorry, Harry. I know how hard this must be for you."

"I used to get so angry at Dumbledore. But now that's me. I told them, and it seems to have made it worse somehow."

"You haven't let anyone down, Harry."

"It feels like it. I should have been able to..."

"What? Prevent the most powerful wizard alive finding out? It was bound to happen sometime."

"I just wish it hadn't been so soon."

"On that I agree with you. But what's done is done. Tell me, can I meet them?"

"Of course. Will after the dinner be okay?"

"Sure. Now if you can help me back into this floo, let's go and enjoy the feast."

**Author's note...**

**My mad writing surge last week when the story seemed to write itself has definitely ended. This chapter took a lot longer to write. So the next may be a while. Please review. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter sixteen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Lucius and Gail were attacked in Diagon Alley and the Minister knows about the prophecy.**

"Who's the old lady with the Headmaster?" asked Lucius. He had finally stopped calling Harry her father, realising that she wasn't happy thinking of him in that way, even though she happily referred to Ginny as her mother.

"I'm not sure. It looks like pictures of an old professor of mum and dad's."

"She's certainly old enough."

Their discussion was put at an end, by Harry banging a spoon on the table and announcing, "Will everybody please welcome one of my old Professors, and the great lady who led us during the Battle of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagal."

As Harry had expected, enthusiastic cheering erupted at that introduction. Like his own name, hers had gone down in the history books after the battle.

"Before anyone asks, she's just here to visit an old friend, but if you see her around, please make her welcome."

The feast went on as normal, nervous first years wondering what Hogwarts would be like, older students catching up on what each other had been doing during the long summer break, but Gail noticed that Professor McGonagal kept glancing at her, so she wasn't that surprised when, at the end of the meal, the professor wheeled herself over to see her.

"I like to take a trip around the castle, just for old times sake. Perhaps you and Lucius would be good enough to escort me?"

"We're not allowed out," Gail explained.

The professor brushed aside her objection. "I'm aware of that, but I'm sure your father would consider me a suitable escort for the two of you."

Night seemed a strange time to see the grounds, so both Lucius and Gail were very aware that the professor had something else in mind. But they had been outside for a while before she spoke.

"I always loved looking at the moon on the lake," she said.

Not knowing how to reply, Gail and Lucius said nothing.

"I'm glad to see you no longer need your chair, Gail."

"You know about me?"

Even in the moonlight, they could see her smile. "Yes, I know all about you. So you're Harry's Golden One."

Immediately she had two wands pointing at her, but she just smiled. "I'm glad he's taught you to react quickly. Do you really think your father would allow you both to come out here alone with me if I wasn't to be trusted?" Gail opened her mouth to say that Harry wasn't her father, but thought again. Somehow, the professor did not seem the type of person to contradict.

Seeing their hesitation, Professor McGonagal added, "It was me that told him about the prophecy in the first place." She turned to Lucius, "though I must confess that I was as surprised as he was at who the Chosen One, as they now seem to call you, would turn out to be."

Still unsure what to say, they remained silent.

"They called him that, you know? Harry. The Chosen One. So you share the label with a great man."

"I know," said Lucius, finally speaking. "I've read all the books."

"Don't go just by the books," the professor advised. "To them, and most of the wizarding world, he's just a powerful wizard who defeated Voldemort. You know it was I who asked him to be Headmaster here?"

This was news to both of them.

"Yes, it was," the professor confirmed. "And Ginny's parents were murdered to persuade him otherwise. That's why they had to send their whole family into exile."

"It was my father, wasn't it?" asked Lucius. "Who had them killed?"

"We think so, yes."

"Then why did they still come here?"

"That should be obvious. We knew the new Chosen One was coming here and needed someone to protect and guide him. Even more so now the Minister knows who you both are."

"He knows?" asked Gail, anxiously.

"It's being talked about in whispers in the Ministry, so we can be sure he knows."

"But how?" asked Lucius.

"That we don't know. But it's obvious that the attack on you both was no coincidence. You will need to trust Harry more than ever."

"Why?" asked Lucius, bitterly. "He didn't even bother to tell me about the prophecy until I forced it out of him."

In the moonlight they could see Professor McGonagal's face become more intense.

"I have known Harry since he was a baby. I was privileged to be Head of Gryffindor when he was one of my students here. Forget the stuff about defeating Voldemort, forget the hero, though he is one, much more than he will ever admit. Aside from all that, he is one of the finest men I have ever known. I'm not saying he never makes mistakes, we all do."

She turned directly to Lucius. "That man would give his life to save either of you without even thinking twice about it. And not just because you're the Chosen One either, he'd do that if you were just any other student here. It's just how he is."

Lucius nodded quietly.

"You may think he makes mistakes, and he may do so. But you will make a bigger one if you don't do as he says. It isn't just Harry, you know. Ginny, one powerful witch, who many underestimate, not to mention she's got her mother's heart. I'd rather attack a lion cub with it's mother around than have her catch me do anything bad to either of you. And I'm not joking. Then there's the Weasleys. Ron is probably the best strategist in the wizarding world. Hermione..." Gail noticed an affectionate smile on the professor's face as she spoke the name, "We called her the brightest witch of her age when she was a student here, and we weren't wrong, she still is. The point I'm trying to make is... Harry knows that he doesn't know everything. He's surrounded himself with the best there is, to make sure he doesn't let you down. Not to mention that he also seeks advice from the portraits of the previous headmasters, all great wizards and witches in their own right. That's why you should trust him, that and the fact that he cares about you two more than you know."

All three were silent after that. There didn't seem to be anything else to say as they went back into the castle.

"Harry, I've been thinking," said Ron.

"Don't strain yourself, mate."

"Ha, ha."

"Well?"

"Yeah. We need an edge."

"What do you mean?"

"That is, Lucius and Gail need an edge. For the next time they are in a battle."

"What do you suggest?"

"We need to make the death-eaters underestimate them, so they get careless."

"I'm listening."

"In their training, from now on, they need to start appearing weaker than they are. But it's got to be all the time, so everybody thinks they aren't as powerful as they really are."

"Do you really think they can pull it off, all the time, I mean?"

"No, they'd never do it. I doubt I could do it, not consistently anyway. At that age? They'd never resist showing off, at least sometimes."

"So what are you thinking?"

"Well, I discussed it with Hermione and she came up with an answer..."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"She did some research and found a spell to jinx their wands. They'll work normally for minor things, like in classes. But in a duel or any offensive spells, it'll reduce the power by however much we want. I thought start at a ten percent reduction at first, then work to a 50 reduction by the time they are in their final years."

"It sounds a good idea."

"But it would be better if they didn't know..."

"No way. I need to tell them. It's hard enough getting Lucius to trust me as it is. If I deceive him on this for years, he'll never trust me again."

"It's your call, Harry. But if they know, will they go along with it?"

"I don't know. But they do, how are they going to train properly? They can't do that if they are using reduced power in all the DA lessons."

"They can learn the spells in the DA. Then we get Luna to take them for remedial defence lessons and we remove the jinx."

"Remedial defence?"

"Yeah, we got the idea from your lessons with Snape."

"I don't suppose you and Hermione want to suggest it to Lucius and Gail?"

"Hey, we've done the hard bit, thinking up the plan. We have to leave you with something to do."

"Thanks."

It was a joyful group of friends who met in Harry and Ginny's expanded lounge a week later.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, Luna," said Hermione to the woman who had once been the strange girl she had dismissed without a second thought, then later come to respect as both a duellist and a friend. "It feels good to have the six of us here together once again." Hermione, Ron and Neville had also joined Harry and Ginny in the lounge for what Ginny had decided was to be Luna's welcoming party.

"Thank you. It's good to be back. So, tell me, Harry. How did Lucius and Gail take being taught by me."

Harry smiled. "Very well, to my surprise. I was expecting a real argument. Gail looked like she was going to explode at first, but calmed down when Lucius immediately agreed with me that it was the best plan. They still didn't like the term remedial defence lessons, but as neither of them could think of an alternative that wouldn't give the game away, they're going along with it."

"It's devious," said Hermione. "That would appeal to a Slytherin."

"Are you saying I'm Slytherin material?" asked Ron, offended.

"Like all of us, you have some qualities from other houses. You can definitely be devious, like a Slytherin, but you're loyal, like a Hufflepuff, but you're definitely Gryffindor."

Ron laughed. "Notice the brain of the family didn't mention Ravenclaw in there."

The others laughed with him, while Hermione looked embarrassed.

The one doubt Lucius had about Ron's plan for them to have lessons with Luna was Luna herself. Her reputation was still very much of the "crazy lady who nobody took seriously."

"You don't think I can teach you, do you?" she asked Lucius at the start of their first lesson together.

Unsure what to say, Lucius said nothing.

Luna waved her wand at Lucius' wand and then at Gail's. "There. Now your wands are at full power."

"You can do that silently?"

"Wordless magic gives you an advantage," she explained. "Your enemy can't defend against a spell he doesn't know is coming."

Lucius nodded.

"But I think you both need convincing some more. I will duel with you both. As you're still so young, I'll be wearing a blindfold. I'm also not going to use a single verbal spell. Your job is to try to stun me. Start now."

Before Lucius could get off his first spell, he was hit by a stream of water from Luna's wand. Gail started to laugh until the water hit her too. Then the room seemed filled with birds and the two looked nervously, expecting them to attack. Then they were momentarily blinded by a bright light. As their eyesight came back to normal, snakes appeared on the floor.

Lucius vanished the snakes, then Gail screamed out. "She's gone!"

Luna had disappeared.

Gail and Lucius back off from where Luna had been and were startled by a loud high pitched almost painfully deafening shriek. Any time they moved away from the centre of the room, it came back. They realised that they were being manoeuvred to stay exactly where Luna wanted them.

Gail turned to Lucius to speak and suddenly wasn't sure what she wanted to say. What were they doing here anyway?

Lucius looked strange. His hair was thickening and she could feel her own doing the same. It became heavier as each hair was enlarged to the thickness of a rope and both fell to the ground under the weight.

Then their wands simply jumped out of their hands. "Finito!" they heard, and saw Luna, standing in front of them holding their wands. Their hair had returned to normal and the birds and snakes had gone.

"End of lesson one," Luna said and walked out of the room, leaving a still soaked Lucius and Gail to make their way back to Slytherin on their own, much to the amusement of the other students they passed.

"There's a drying spell," said Gail. "But I don't know it."

"Me neither. I never took much notice of spells like that, just the ones for duelling. Did you notice, she never even used one duelling spell?"

"It was pretty incredible," agreed Gail. "Who'd have thought? Loony Luna!"

Lucius didn't reply as they reached the Slytherin common room.

"What are you thinking?"

"I don't know really," he replied. "I just feel, well, for the first time, I think we might actually be able to defeat him."

Instinctively, Gail just squeezed his hand.

**Author's note...**

**The spells Luna used?**

**Aguamenti - produces a jet of water used in the books to fill a cup for a drink or to put out a fire.**

**Avis – as used by Hermione to produce a flock of birds from her wand.**

**Please review. **

**Lumos – produces light, in this case bright enough to temporarily blind Lucius and Gail.**

**Serpensortia – produces a snake, as Draco did in the duel against Harry.**

**Bedazzling Hex – causes invisibility in a manner similar to the Disillusionment Charm which causes a colour change to match the background.**

**Caterwauling Charm – produces a loud alarm when someone enters the protected area, in this case the walls and doors of the room.**

**Confundo (also known as the Confundus Charm) - causes the victim to become confused.**

**Hair-Thickening Charm – not used in the books, but mentioned by Snape.**

**Engorgio – causes an object (in this case their hair) to grow in size.**

**Accio – causes an object to be summoned to the person casting the charm. This one is the only one of the spells Luna used which may be considered as a "normal" spell in a fight.**

**PLEASE review.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter seventeen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J., her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

** Lucius and Gail have begun secret training with Luna, while pretending to be weak in front of everyone else.**

** If you were one of the first to read the last chapter, you may have read the version of the notes where I missed two of the spells Luna used. They were...**

** ... the Bedazzling Hex – causes invisibility in a manner similar to the Disillusionment Charm which causes a colour change to match the background.**

** ...and the Confundo (also known as the Confundus Charm) which causes the victim to become confused.**

"There's been more attacks," said Hermione, looking up from the Prophet at breakfast one morning.

"Who this time?" asked Harry.

Hermione named a couple of wizarding families.

"But they're purebloods!" Harry exclaimed. "What's he playing at? A whole string of attacks on halfbloods, now he's starting on purebloods. And he hasn't attacked a single muggleborn in months."

"So far they've all been ones who voted with you in the Wizengamot. Or rather their families. I think he's trying to persuade everyone that it's dangerous to oppose him."

"Why bother?" asked Harry. Most of them don't support me anyway."

"Hermione thinks he may be trying to consolidate his power for a reason. Maybe to get something through which they would try to stop."

"What reason?"

"That's what we don't know."

Just after Christmas there was a picture feature on the front page of the Prophet. "Minister Collins spends Christmas with new fiancée," read Hermione.

"In an announcement exclusive to this newspaper..." Hermione glared at the interruption as Ron snorted at the word 'newspaper', then she continued, "Minister Collins and Frederica Snidler, previously a teacher at Durmstrang, announced their engagement when the Minister had invited this reporter to visit him at home for a private interview."

Hermione put the paper down. "Snidler," mused Ginny. "Wasn't she the one fired from Durmstrang for teaching the dark arts?"

"Yes," said Harry. "Now it's obvious why he wanted to stifle resistance in the Wizengamot."

"Not really," said Ron. "They might not have liked it, but they couldn't actually stop him marrying again. After all Lucius' mother died years ago, when he was born. And even the Wizengamot can't stop someone marrying whoever they want."

"Is it true?" asked Gail, later the same day. "That your father is marrying again?"

"How would I know?" pointed out Lucius. "That's what it says in the Prophet."

"She's a lot younger than him. Do you think he loves her?"

Lucius laughed out loud enough for the others around to look at him oddly. "Him? He doesn't know how to love anyone but himself."

"Then why would he marry her?"

"He wants an heir," said Lucius flatly. "And even if I survive, I don't count any more as far as he's concerned. And he wants someone to leave all the family wealth to."

"Oh." The thought of Lucius being heir to a fortune had never occurred to her.

"The family trust says it has to be left within the family. Up till now, I was the only family, so he couldn't disinherit me even though he wants to."

"And now he can."

"Not yet, but if she has a child, he can."

"Another lot of murders," said Hermione just over a month and a half later. "And the prophet says, 'the Minister promises action'."

"Like what?" sneered Ron. "Killing himself?"

They found out what the next day.

"He's done what?" stormed Harry.

"Made that Snidler bitch the new head of Magical Law Enforcement," Ron said bitterly.

Hermione explained. "He put through a motion of no confidence after the latest lot of murders, and appointed her yesterday. The Wizengamot approved her on a straight show of hands."

"Everyone too scared to say anything," muttered Ron.

"Which is what he wanted," sighed Harry.

"Even he would never have got away with this before," admitted Ron. "But now they're all too scared to even try to stop him."

The rest of the year was a frustrating one for Ron. Hogwarts continued to train for an attack which never came, while the attacks on purebloods and even halfbloods dropped to almost nothing, which actually succeeded in doing what Ron had thought to be impossible, making Frederica Snidler genuinely popular and not just in the Wizengamot.

"Of course," Ron had pointed out many times, and again after reading an editorial in the Prophet praising the woman, "it was easy to stop the attacks when your husband was the one behind them in the first place."

It was equally frustrating for Lucius and Gail. As spring turned into summer, they had finally told Harry that they refused to stay inside all summer, when everyone else was outside playing or swimming in the lake. He had finally relented, after Luna had assured him that the two were very able to defend themselves if anything did happen, but, unknown to Lucius and Gail, Harry had asked the ghosts and castle elves to help, by keeping an eye on them any time they were outside.

"I know. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop," Hermione said one evening, watching Harry's restlessness.

"Huh?" asked Ron.

"It's a muggle saying," she explained. "It's means being tense because you are waiting for something to happen."

One thing they had all noticed was that Lucius and Gail had gradually drifted away from their other friends, spending more and more time together, not that anybody noticed anything romantic between them.

As usual it was Hermione who guessed what was happening. "They've decided not to put anybody else in danger by being close to them. Only Lucius and Gail have done it gradually, so their friends wouldn't suspect, whereas Harry simply tried to get us to stay away."

"Well, they are both Slytherins," Ron smiled. "You can't expect them to be upfront about it."

Having forced themselves together, Lucius and Gail were becoming increasingly frustrated with the restrictions they lived under, those imposed by Harry and their self-imposed isolation and tensions had appeared very obviously.

After one very public row in the middle of dinner, which led to Gail storming out angrily, Ginny leaned across to Harry and whispered, in a loud stage whisper, "this remind you of anyone?"

From being concerned, Harry's face turned to a grin as both he and Ginny looked at Hermione and Ron.

"Wha?" asked Ron, his mouth full of food.

Hermione, who had heard the whisper, giggled and squeezed Ron's hand.

It was obvious by the end of the year that they were all, but especially Lucius and Gail, becoming stir crazy, as Hermione had put it, and had then had to explain to Ron and Ginny what that meant.

Ginny and Hermione persuaded Harry that they should all take a holiday. "Why don't we all visit Beauxbatons," Ginny had suggested. "It'll be almost empty at this time of year, apart from our families. We can see all of them and it's about as safe as anywhere could be."

So it was that Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Gail and Lucius found themselves on a tram heading to Manchester Airport.

Harry had expected Lucius and Gail to be frustrated at the slow muggle method of travel, but not a bit of it. From the moment they had apparated into the small wizarding area of Manchester and quickly left it to go out into muggle Manchester, the two had been like excited five year olds.

Gail had wanted to explore the shops, but Harry and Ron would have none of it. They had been fascinated by the bendy tram which made it's way rapidly through the crowded streets of Manchester and out through the suburbs and the country to the airport.

"Why couldn't you have just shrunk everything?" Ron had complained as he lugged his suitcase into the main departures area.

"That would REALLY not look suspicious," retorted Hermione. "A family going abroad on holiday without luggage."

She had used her old loyal contacts within the Ministry to obtain muggle passports for them all and book their flights. Ron had insisted, that if they had to fly, they should go somewhere which would mislead anyone trying to follow them, so they were going on a crowded holiday flight to Malaga, on the Costa Del Sol in southern Spain.

Most of them hadn't been on a plane before, but the most nervous was Ron.

"Honestly, Ron," said Hermione in an exasperated tone of voice. "It's not as if you've never flown before. You flew all the way to Australia with me to get my parents."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," he grumbled. "Just wish I could use something safe, like a broom."

Hermione laughed at that. "What?" Ron asked.

"Safe? And how many times did you or Harry end up in the hospital with broom-related accidents?"

"That was quidditch. It´s different," he protested.

After an irritating delay of over an hour and a half before they finally took off, even Hermione was wishing it was possible to go by broom. The flight was a smooth one although Hermione had to explain to Lucius and Gail how to relieve the pressure on their ears by yawning. But soon they were descending into the airport outside of Malaga.

Getting their baggage and getting through customs was another long and boring delay, but finally they were all on a small train going from the station at the airport.

"Where are we going now?" Gail had asked for the hundredth time.

Hermione, remembering the beach holidays she had had as a child, had persuaded Harry to let them all stay for a few days before going to Beauxbatons.

"Fuengirola," she answered. "To a hotel near the beach. Lots of people speak English in Fuengirola, and it's not quite the height of the tourist season yet, so it won't be completely crowded out."

Soon the recorded voice in the roof of the train announced, "La proxima parada, Fuengirola. The next station is, Fuengirola." Both times the word Fuengirola was spoken so fast that only the Spanish could possibly understand it, which made Harry wonder why they bothered to make the announcement in English as well.

They left the train and walked up the stairs into the open air. Hermione had magically lightened their bags now nobody else was likely to lift them and become suspicious.

She consulted a small brochure and said confidently, "It's this way."

Soon they had unpacked the few things they would need for their short time in Fuengirola and, at Gail's insistence, headed for the beach.

Ron and Hermione had taken the opportunity to spend some time together on their own, so it was only the four of them that made their way to the sandy beach.

Gail shrieked at the water, saying it was cold, but plunged in after Lucius anyway.

Ginny and Harry sunbathed and Ginny watched the two children play. The smile on her face was spotted by Harry.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

"It's lovely, isn't it? Just seeing them play. No Minister, no attacks, no prophecy to worry about, just like they should be."

Harry hugged her closely as a tear fell from one of her eyes.

"I just can't help thinking," she explained. "Will this be our last summer together with both of them?"

Not for the first time, Harry couldn't answer her for he had been thinking along the same lines himself.

They both forced themselves to look more cheerful as a wet and rather sandy Gail came running up to them shouting, "Come on in, Mum, Harry, the water's lovely."

"I thought you said it was cold," grinned Harry.

"Only for a few seconds, then it's lovely. Don't you want to swim?"

Harry, who had never swum as a child, had finally grown to enjoy swimming after being pestered to join Ginny in the pond behind the Burrow, agreed, and made a show of struggling to get up.

Ginny made no such pretence and pulled Harry up with her. "Come on, old man. Let's show these youngsters how to do it."

Watching her run into the water and dive into it gracefully, Harry wondered if there was something in her genes that made her grow old so gracefully and keep her figure so well.

The next few days were like heaven to all of them. Sometimes Ron and Hermione joined them, sometimes Ginny, Hermione and Gail went shopping while then men enjoyed the water.

It was going to be over all too soon, Hermione thought, congratulating herself on an idea that had helped Lucius and Gail relax properly for the first time in ages.

On their final day on the beach before heading northwards to France and Beauxbatons, Gail challenged Lucius to a swimming race out to a tethered platform.

Despite her confidence, Lucius beat her fairly easily. As he climbed onto the platform he turned to look back for Gail, only to see a speedboat, in much closer to the coast than it was allowed to be, run straight over Gail.

Seeing her hit, he screamed out "Gail!" and dived straight in to swim towards her.

Ginny had screamed out at the same time and Harry was up in a second. "What's happened?"

"Gail! A boat hit her."

The boat had stopped, turned around, and the two young boys in the boat were already pulling Gail aboard.

"Oh, God," they cried when they saw the blood trickling down her face.

Lucius had reached them and told them to take Gail ashore, quickly.

By the time they had reached the small jetty a small crowd of people had gathered, among them Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione and the first-aid trained lifeguards.

Gail looked ashen and Ginny didn't look much better. Before Harry could do anything, the lifeguards had carried Gail to an ambulance.

"She's our daughter," explained Ginny, and she and Harry were allowed into the back of the ambulance with Gail to go to the hospital.

**Author's note...**

** Please review.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter eighteen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**Author's note**

**If anyone has been saving this story, minor corrections have been made to chapters 3, 10, 14, 15, 16 and 17. For the record I often make minor corrections to a chapter just as I am uploading the next one. One important error has been corrected in chapter 3. (Gail thinks she is almost 9, not 8 and a half, this is to make it fit in correct with when she starts Hogwarts.)**

**RECAP.**

**Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione have taken Lucius and Gail on holiday, but Gail has been hurt in a freak accident.**

Left to himself, Lucius did as Harry had shouted at him to do, go straight back to the hotel and wait for Ron and Hermione to return.

It was a long and worrying time for Lucius as he waited for Ron and Hermione, although in reality it was less than an hour.

"Hi. what are you doing back?" began Ron, then, noticing the look on Lucius' face... "What's wrong?"

"Gail's been hurt. They took her to the hospital."

Ron, Hermione and Lucius ran to the beach first aid post and found out where Gail would have been taken to. The lifeguard called a taxi for them and spoke in rapid Spanish to the driver.

Even with Hermione's attempt at Spanish (she had bought and read a simple phrasebook a few weeks before) it took over an hour before someone finally directed them to where Gail was.

Ginny was actually laughing at something, but stopped when she saw their serious faces.

"Don't worry," she said, "it was only a minor bump on the head. She's still unconscious so the muggle doctors are all worried, but I cast a healing charm. It's nothing compared to a hit from a bludger. But they don't know that of course, so they are insisting she stays in."

"So there's nothing to worry about?" asked Lucius.

Ginny shook her head. "No. She's okay." Noticing his still-anxious face, Ginny added, "Do you want to go and see her?"

Lucius just nodded.

"Come on," said Ginny, smiling. "Follow me. I'll see if the doctors have finished checking on her."

He had to wait a little longer before the doctors allowed them in. Gail was surrounded by machines and some wires were attached to her from one of the machines. Both Gail and Lucius looked worried. Hermione had followed them into the ward and she quickly explained what everything was for.

A boy in the next bed asked something in Spanish which even Hermione couldn't make out. When they couldn't answer he just shrugged his shoulders and began talking with a boy in another bed.

Hermione looked at Lucius, and whispered something to Ginny. Ginny took one look at him and left him alone with Gail.

Despite Ginny's assurance that Gail was fine, in spite of being unconscious, Lucius was shocked to see her like this. Of course witches and wizards who played quidditch were quite used to severe head injuries and what Ginny described as a 'minor bump' would have probably killed a muggle, but that didn't stop him worrying.

Ginny went to check on them an hour later to find Gail still unconscious, as she'd expected, with Lucius, still looking worried, holding her hand and gently stroking her face. Ginny crept out again quietly so as not to embarrass him.

Lucius was actually aware of Ginny's brief presence, but was past caring what anyone thought. Gail and he had been training hard together for so long but in spite of the prophecy, the idea that he could actually lose Gail had not really sunk in.

Seeing her pale face in the boat after she'd been struck had been bad enough, sending a almost physical pain through his gut until he wanted to vomit. Now, seeing her still-pale face against the even whiter pillow was worse, if anything. Before, the adrenalin had stopped him having time to think. Now he couldn't STOP thinking about what it would be like to lose her.

When and how had she come to mean so much to him? It didn't seem so long ago that he'd hated her and everything she stood for. Of course, the fact that she had saved his life, not once, but twice, had helped, but it was more than that. He'd seen her determination and courage even when it seemed that her own magic was killing her, and he knew just how hard she had had to struggle to learn to walk again, and how frustrating she had found it. He'd cheered along with all the others the day she'd walked, or hobbled, into the great hall beside Harry.

Even seeing her in such pain in the Hogwarts hospital wing when she'd been so seriously ill had been easy compared to seeing her now, white-faced and unnaturally silent.

"Gail, you've got to be okay. I need you," he told her quietly.

Shortly afterwards it was Harry who popped in to check on them. Lucius quickly wiped a tear from his eye, hoping Harry hadn't noticed.

"It's hard isn't it?" Harry asked.

Not sure what to answer, and not trusting his voice at that moment, Lucius simply nodded.

"You don't have to hide how much you're hurting, you know."

"Me hurting?"

"Yes. It hurts a lot to know someone you love is suffering. It's happened to me a lot of times. And I'm afraid to say, this probably won't be the last time it happens to you either."

"Does it get easier?"

"No," said Harry bluntly. "I think that's the difference between light and dark."

"What do you mean?"

"Normally, those like the Dark Lords, like Voldemort, don't care for anyone except themselves."

"Like my father," Lucius said bitterly.

"Yes. So they can't hurt like this," Harry finished.

"Then isn't it better not to care for someone?"

"I feel sorry for your father, and Voldemort," Harry said, then, seeing the look of astonishment on Lucius' face, he continued, "Yes. Think of all the times you've been happy together. Would you really want to miss all that, just to avoid the pain you're feeling now?"

"If it made her well, yes."

"But it wouldn't, would it? It would just stop you caring about it. Men like your father miss so much. They can't love and they can't accept being loved."

"I think he did once, before my mother died."

"Yes. I'm sure you are right. But when she died he allowed himself to turn bitter and hateful. I knew your mother. She was proud, but she was kind. She would have hated what he has become."

"Don't ever turn away from love. It is a two-edged sword, but it is the most powerful force we have. You've both been pushing your friends away, haven't you?"

"You noticed?"

"No, actually. Professor Weasley did."

Lucius almost laughed.

Harry actually did laugh. "Yes. She does seem to spot these things. Sometimes us men have the emotional range of a teaspoon. You're trying to protect them, aren't you?"

"Yes," Lucius admitted simply.

"You can't."

"If they're not with us, my father won't be interested in them."

"I doubt that's true. Unless something happens to prevent it, we are headed for a civil war. They are Slytherins and they'll be forced to choose. If they choose to follow your father, we may be forced to kill them. But they won't. Like it or not, they won't fight against you when the time comes. And your father will see that as a betrayal."

"So there's a target on their back no matter what I do?" Lucius asked. The bitterness in his voice surprised Harry.

"I'm sorry. You can't help them by turning away from them. Together you are stronger. Some will probably be killed. I can tell you, that will hurt more than you do now. I can still remember the face of every one who died in the Battle for Hogwarts. But I also know what would have happened if we hadn't won that battle. And I know, that if they had known they were going to be killed, not one of them would have chosen differently. They had a love too, you see. For me. For Hogwarts. And for freedom. They wanted to see their children grow up in a world without fear. And it was their love that gave us the time to finish what we had to do. And it was the love of a girl who loved me, that gave me the strength to do what I had to do."

Lucius looked back down at Gail. "You love her too, don't you?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," said Harry. "She's another daughter to me." Then, to Lucius' surprise, Harry added, in a slightly hurt tone of voice, "Even if she doesn't want me as a father."

Harry made himself stand more upright. "I was supposed to come and get you out. Visiting time is over. I'll give you one more minute alone with her. Would you like some advice?"

Lucius gave him a questioning look.

"If you feel something for her, don't be afraid to tell her. I wasted so much time and hurt Mrs. Potter so much because I didn't want to admit how I felt."

Lucius was glad he didn't have to react to that as Harry had already turned and begun to walk away.

Love? Was that what this feeling was? He thought love was something all warm and soft and soppy, but this feeling felt like he was being twisted up inside every time he looked at Gail like this. And the way Professor Potter had described the Battle for Hogwarts, love was powerful enough to defeat even someone like Voldemort.

Although Gail regained consciousness within a few hours, it was another three days before the muggle doctors would allow her to be released. They had been amazed at her recovery as they had not been optimistic about her surviving without brain damage. Meanwhile, Hermione had had to speak with the Spanish Ministry and her friends back in the Ministry in London to get the muggle forms that would allow Gail to be treated free of charge in the hospital and that had taken nearly two days.

As soon as they had checked out of their hotel and collected Gail, they searched for a place where nobody could see them so they could apparate. In the tourist season, that hadn't been an easy task, but eventually they found somewhere, and apparated to the coordinates Hermione had researched before they had left England.

Ron had insisted on no apparating across international borders, to avoid them being tracked and he was even more insistent on that now it was fairly certain that their presence in Spain would have leaked out somehow to the Ministry.

That's why Hermione had looked up the coordinates to an area of countryside not far from Barcelona, a large touristy town in the north-east of Spain.

For once, Ron didn't complain at having to walk, possibly because Hermione had shrunk all of their luggage this time and made it look like a couple of simple overnight bags. She'd also lightened it.

When they reached the outskirts of the town, Hermione asked for directions. Being another tourist area, the locals were used to people who spoke little or no Spanish, so they simply pointed them towards a bus shelter.

After a wait which seemed like ages, a bus came along and they asked for the station. Unfortunately that bus didn't go there. They would have to change buses at the main bus terminal.

The bus terminal was a bewildering place for Lucius and Gail, and for Ron and Ginny too if they'd have admitted it. Only Hermione seemed to be able to understand the various maps and diagrams on the walls, in spite of the fact that some of them were in Spanish, French, German and English.

But at least they didn't have to wait long for a bus to the main railway station and Hermione quickly bought the tickets they would need for the train journey.

They had to wait a few hours for the next train, but they soon found themselves on an express train to cross the border between Barcelona and Marseilles in southern France.

Once they were across the border, they didn't wait for the station, they simply held the portkey Hermione prepared and within minutes were landing, harder than Hermione had intended, in the grounds of Beauxbatons. They had arrived.

**Author's note...**

**Not much action in this chapter I know, but please review anyway.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter nineteen. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione have taken Lucius and Gail on holiday. Gail has recovered from her accident and they have finally arrived at Beauxbatons.**

Within seconds of landing, they heard a shout. One of the children playing not far away had called out to announce their arrival. Almost before they could get up from the ground, what seemed like a hoard of adults and children were running towards them.

Seeing Lucius looking nervous, Harry put a hand on his shoulder and grinned and said, "Meet the rest of the family."

They found that they fairly quickly separated into groups. Ron and Hermione's children quickly took them away for some time alone with them, and Harry and Ginny's children did the same to them. The numerous grandchildren welcomed Lucius and Gail and insisted on giving them the Grand Tour of Beauxbatons.

Lucius still looked a little nervous as he was dragged away by two eight year old boys who were following Gail and the others and Ginny couldn't help but laugh.

"You can laugh," said Harry. "I know what it's like. To suddenly go from being on your own to being in the middle of a family like the Weasleys... It's great but it's intimidating."

"The Weasleys and the Potters, if you remember correctly," Ginny retorted.

"Yeah, I remember," Harry grinned. "It was like marrying into a regiment! I was scared if I put a foot out of line I'd have all your brothers hexing me."

"No you weren't," Ginny contradicted. "You were just scared of losing Ron as a friend."

Harry remembered with a grimace. "It seems so silly looking back."

"It was silly then," Ginny insisted. "So do you regret marrying into the Weasley Regiment?"

"What do you think?"

Their children heard this conversation and rolled their eyes as if to say, "Mum and Dad are at it again."

"So where's all my brothers and their wives?" asked Ginny.

"You'll see them at dinner," James explained. "They said we should have time with you first."

The few weeks at Beauxbatons were like a breath of fresh air to Lucius and Gail. They were able to act like they'd forgotten the pending war and just be children. However Hermione realised that Lucius still had times when he looked sad and pensive. On one of those times, she approached him. "I know it's not easy, but enjoy it while you can."

"I can't help thinking of the situation in England," he said. "The attacks on muggleborns are still going on, aren't they?"

"Yes," Hermione replied. Although the prophet had stopped reporting attacks on muggleborns and muggles, giving a false impression of peace to the wizarding world, Hermione's contacts in the Magical Law Enforcement department kept her abreast of what was really happening. And Lucius had insisted that she tell him as well.

Lucius didn't answer her.

"You're very like Harry, you know that?"

"What do you mean?"

"He felt responsible every time there was an attack, even though there was nobody to blame but the deatheaters. He even said that if he could have been ready sooner, so many fewer would have died."

"It's true. How can I sit here enjoying myself when my father is killing people and I'm the only person who can stop him and I'm doing nothing?"

"You know, Harry still remembers every one that died in the Battle for Hogwarts."

"I know. He told me."

"And a little bit of him still blames himself."

"But that's silly. He couldn't kill Voldemort until you'd destroyed all the horcruxes, and you didn't even know about them until just before you started your search for them."

"That's right. But Harry still feels responsible."

"Whereas with me and my father, there's no excuse like that. I'm sitting around in Hogwarts just waiting until I feel ready to fight him. And while I do nothing, people die."

"You're not doing nothing," Hermione argued. "You're training. You're making yourself ready to take him on. So that when you do fight him, you'll win. Fight him before you are ready and you'll lose. If you lose, we all lose."

"It's so frustrating. I mean, how will I even know when I'm ready?"

"Harry will know. We will know. And so will you. Would it be easier if I didn't tell you about all the attacks?" she offered.

"No," he replied decisively. "When they first told me I had to kill him, I didn't want to face it. Even knowing what he is, how could I kill my own father? But every time I hear of more people being murdered by him, it gets easier. I think I really hate him now..."

"Don't think just about that," Hermione advised.

"Then what should I think about?"

Hermione pointed to where Gail was splashing in the pool with one of Ron and Hermione's granddaughters. "That's what you need to think about."

"You mean Gail?"

"Well, yes, Gail too, but that's not what I meant. This is how life SHOULD be. Families playing together, unafraid. It's not just what you are fighting against that is important, but it's what you are fighting for. Concentrate on that. That's what Harry did at the end. It gave him the strength to go on. And it will do the same for you."

"Thank you, Professor. How did you know what I was thinking anyway?"

Hermione smiled. "Apart from the fact you had exactly the same guilty look Harry used to wear? Well, I am supposed to be the brightest witch of the age, aren't I?"

Soon it was Gail's fourteenth birthday, and the whole extended family had put together a massive party for her.

George had even smuggled some Weasleys' fireworks over from England. Even at the Hogwarts feasts, Gail said that didn't think she'd ever seen so much food, which Lucius thought was an exaggeration.

Surrounded by her adopted family, Gail had what she described as "the bestest birthday I ever had!"

Even with all of the security measures that Beauxbatons possessed, which were on a similar level to those at Hogwarts, everyone had agreed that there should always be at least one of the adults watching both Lucius and Gail at any time when they were outside the actual buildings. Hermione had suggested that they tried not to make it obvious to Lucius and Gail though.

To Harry's surprise, that usually meant two adults, as Lucius seemed to be spending very little time with Gail, in fact he was spending a lot of his time alone in the Beauxbatons library, something which Hermione discovered when they had missed him and been worried enough to look for him. Less surprising, of course, was the books he had been studying, spells against the dark arts.

All too soon, especially for Ginny and Gail, it was time to leave Beauxbatons and return to Hogwarts. Ron had insisted on using the same route to return, to try to avoid giving any clue that they had ever been there.

Both Harry and Hermione thought that the idea that Minister Collins wouldn't find out somehow was probably over optimistic, but agreed that it was at least worth the attempt to further protect Beauxbatons and their families.

This time, after crossing the border by train, they quickly apparated to a deserted area outside of Malaga and made their way into the city. Gail persuaded Hermione and Ginny to take her shopping as she wanted to make the most of the time 'back in muggleland' as she put it.

After an hour being dragged around the shops, Ron, Harry and Lucius decided to go and find somewhere to go and eat and agreed to meet the girls later. Hermione had said that they 'just had to visit a tapas bar', so they managed to find one.

"How's a tiny plate like this supposed to fill you up?" Ron had complained.

Hermione explained that tapas were like a tiny snack, and you chose as many as you wanted. She showed him the tremendous variety, some of which he looked at suspiciously. "Try everything," she suggested. "If you don't like one, just take another. Nobody will mind."

The girls went off to explore more shops leaving Ron to take Hermione's suggestion of "try everything" rather more literally than she had perhaps intended. To Ron's surprise, he'd actually liked almost all of them, with a few exceptions, but by the time the girls had returned he was complaining of a stomach ache.

"That's foreign food for you," he said.

Harry, however, retorted, "Nothing to do with just how many platefuls you managed to put away, of course?"

Hermione laughed and cast a quick charm in Ron's direction, and after a loud, rather embarrassing burp, as it was loud enough to make several others look in their direction, Ron announced that he felt better.

To return to the airport they had to take the same train that had taken them to Fuengirola and for once Hermione had trouble finding it. It didn't seem to leave from any of the platforms at the big station they had been directed to.

Finally a helpful Spaniard had pointed her down some stairs as the train left this station from an underground level. After leaving the station the train came out into the bright sunlight.

Harry had been wondering why Hermione had insisted that they come quite a few hours too early, and found out when Hermione didn't get up to get off the train at the station for the airport, but stayed on the train.

The train went underground again, passing through Torremolinus, and finally Hermione consented to leave the train at a small town called Arroyo De La Miel. "There's a big funfair just near the station here," she explained.

A monorail had been built for tourists which went from the beach to the funfair and passed the station, so they took that to the funfair.

Seeing Lucius and Gail act like the children they really were as they tried every ride they could made Harry ask Hermione what she was up to.

"Building happy memories," she explained. "You know they are going to need them."

Gail had gone on a ride which Lucius thought looked boring. She was sitting in the middle of a row of seats as the entire structure swung upwards gently. She waved at them and they all waved back. Suddenly it turned almost upside down as it swung down, causing many of the occupants to shriek. Harry was on alert, but Hermione told him not to worry. Certainly nobody else seemed bothered.

The riders were all now suspended almost upside down and they were being lowered slowly. They it reversed direction and they were swung the right way up again and lifted high into the air. As they swung away, fountains of water shot up where they had been.

The process was repeated, but more quickly and this time the water was close enough that Gail could feel the spray. The machine almost seemed to do a dance with the fountains, the water just missing the riders each time.

Then it stopped again, just as it had the first time, but this time the fountains came on as the helpless riders were held upside down in the water and all the bystanders laughed.

Finally they were turned the right way up and everyone was allowed to disembark. Most of the riders were a little damp, to say the least, but Gail and a few others, who had been in the middle of the front row, were much wetter.

Her wet hair hung around her face and most of her T-shirt was drenched. Her trousers were mostly dry apart from the water which had dripped down from her shirt and hair. She was laughing almost as much as Ron and Harry were. "That was ace!" she said.

Harry nudged Hermione and said quietly, "I think it worked."

Hermione just smiled.

Sadly, it was time to take the train back to the airport. The hot sun meant that Gail was almost dry by the time they reached the station, avoiding the need for a drying charm.

All too soon they were flying back to England and home.

**Author's note...**

**I hoped you enjoyed their holiday as much as Lucius and Gail did. Please review.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**They have now returned from their holiday in Spain and France and are back at Hogwarts.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If Lucius seemed a little distracted when they all returned from their holiday, everyone was too busy with the pre-new-school-year preparations to notice.

Another school year opened with the special mixture of supreme organisation which is uniquely Hogwarts.

After a break of over a month from their training for Lucius and Gail, two months for the other students, Harry wanted to work them harder than ever. Hermione's wiser counsel prevailed when she drew up a new training schedule for them all, staff included, even for Harry.

Lucius especially threw himself into the training like never before. When he wasn't in lessons or his spell defence lessons with Gail, he was training with other Slytherins. When he couldn't find a Slytherin to practice with, he trained with anyone else who was free, be they Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or even Gryffindor.

Harry was impressed. "He makes me seem positively laid back, doesn't he?"

Ginny and Hermione weren't so sure. "I'm not sure it's healthy doing nothing BUT training," Hermione had objected, but when she had mentioned that to Lucius he had just brushed her comment aside with a disdain she hadn't seen from him in a long time. It surprised and hurt her a little as over the previous two years, Lucius had grown to respect the muggle-born professor a lot.

It took Ron to bring an end to his seeming obsession with constant training, by challenging Lucius to a wizarding duel, with the restraint charm removed from his wand.

It had been the end of one of Lucius and Gail's private lessons with Luna. As they went to leave, Ron came into the room. "A private word, please Lucius."

Luna and Gail went to wash as he said, "Do an old man a favour. I'm getting a little out of practice. Would you mind if we had a duel."

"Sure," agreed Lucius, though he had a suspicious look in his eye. "When?"

"How about right now?"

The duel was short, even shorter than Ron had expected. About three or four minutes into the duel, Gail had returned, wanting to know what Ron had wanted to say privately to Lucius.

Momentarily distracted, Lucius found himself in a body bind.

"That's not fair," cried Gail as she released Lucius from the spell.

"No," agreed Ron. "But Lucius, you wouldn't have fallen for that six months ago. You're overdoing it so much you're losing your edge."

Lucius was about to reply with a snappy retort when he looked at the determination in Ron's face and thought better of it.

"I've trained aurors long enough to know what I'm talking about. I've seen it too many times before. Lose your edge and you get yourself, or someone else killed."

Lucius looked ashamed.

Ron saw the sudden loss of confidence in the boy in front of him and decided to calm down a little. "That doesn't mean give up. But you need something else in your life apart from training. You need to relax a little."

"I don't have time," Lucius said, this time in a defeated voice.

"You have time. You can't fight him before you're ready and if you push yourself like this, you never will be. I'll ask Hermione to draw up a timetable, when you can train, and when you can do your school work, but also when you must just relax, or go and play, or just enjoy yourself."

"And how many people die while I'm playing?"

"Not as many as will die if you lose, which you will, if you don't remember there's a life out there actually worth fighting for."

Lucius didn't reply.

"That's settled, then. Come to our quarters just before you go to bed tonight and Hermione will give you your new timetable.

That evening, it was Hermione who opened the door. "I've come for my new timetable," he muttered.

Smiling at him, Hermione handed him a parchment with the new timetable she had drawn up, in conjunction with Harry, Ron and Luna, the three who were mostly responsible for the training. "Keep it with you at all times," she instructed.

He took it without looking at it and began to turn away. Then, clenching a fist to steel himself, he turned back. "Professor?"

"Yes?"

"I, er... I owe you an apology. The other day. You were trying to help..."

"It's okay, Lucius. I could probably have been more tactful. I sometimes forget that I'm not always lecturing in a classroom. Now, go to bed. You might notice. Tomorrow you have the day off. It's a Sunday, so relax and enjoy it."

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Lucius got up early as usual and began what had begun his morning run outside. Right from the start of his training with Luna, Ron and Hermione had insisted that muggle-style physical fitness be part of his training program. Gail and some of the others had joined him most days the previous year, but this term he had taken to rising early to avoid everyone and run alone.

He was only a few hundred yards into his run when he noticed Harry running beside him. "Stop," gasped Harry. When they had stopped, Harry took a deep breath and said, "I'm getting too old for this."

"Did you want something, sir?"

Harry handed him the parchment. "You forgot this. Hermione said to keep it with you at all times."

Looking at him strangely, Lucius took the offered parchment and put it into his pocket. He began to run again. Before he'd taken more than a few steps, the parchment became too hot to bear in his pocket and he had to take it out and drop it on the ground.

The moment it hit the ground, it wrapped itself into the shape of a howler. "Lucius," it screamed at him. "You are supposed to be relaxing today. Now don't let me catch you training for the rest of the say."

Lucius looked at Harry, who was grinning. "We got Ginny to do the voice for the howler," he explained. "She's almost as good at it as her mother was."

"How?" Lucius was asking as he suddenly saw Ron, Hermione and Ginny walking down from the castle towards them.

When they got there, Hermione explained, "That parchment is charmed. Ron thought you wouldn't stick to the timetable, so it's charmed to let us know if you are training when you shouldn't be."

"It also lets us know if you don't have it with you," added Harry.

Lucius glared at Ron, who shrugged his shoulders in a helpless sort of gesture.

"Don't blame, Ron," said Harry. "I insisted on it."

"And if I ignore the howler?"

"Remember that Hermione is still one of the brightest witches of the age," replied Ginny. "Let's just say I wouldn't advise it."

"You have no right..." Lucius began.

"No," Ginny insisted. "You have no right to put everybody at risk like this, because that's what you're doing."

"I didn't ask for this damn prophecy."

"Neither did I," said Harry quietly.

Uncertain of what to answer, Lucius turned and ran away. He thought he'd won the battle of wills when none of the four ran after him. What he didn't see was the parchment form itself into a paper aeroplane similar to those used as memos in the Ministry and begin to fly after him.

Gail meanwhile was down at the lake with some of the other students, paddling in the shallow water at the edge of the lake. Quite a few of the students, from all the houses, liked to have an early morning swim before breakfast, at least until it got too cold. Even this early in September some of them were debating whether the lake was too cold for a swim or not. A few brave ones were already swimming, others were staying back on the shore, while Gail and one or two others while paddling at the water's edge, trying to summon their courage to go in deeper.

Suddenly their attention was grabbed by someone yelling. They looked up to see a shape high above and flying at them. Instinctively, Gail reached for her wand only to realise that she hadn't brought it with her.

The shape grew larger until they could make out it was Lucius. A second later he splashed into the lake and soon came up spluttering.

As he angrily swam then walked to dry land, Gail couldn't help noticing how his T-shirt clung to every muscle. She tried not to grin, but he'd seen her.

"I'm glad you think it's funny," he snapped angrily.

Quite a few of the other girls were enjoying the view as well.

"What happened?" Gail asked.

Lucius held up the parchment, which became dry the moment it left the water. "This happened. The damn thing followed me and the moment it touched me it became a portkey and brought me here."

Lucius was so angry he didn't even think about casting a drying charm on himself as he stormed back to the castle.

"You had no right," he yelled at Harry's retreating figure.

Ginny turned and walked to face him.

"He has every right. As headmaster here he is responsible for the safety of every one of you and he will do whatever is necessary, even to prevent you coming to harm by exhausting yourself."

"You don't understand, none of you."

"Who do you think you're talking to, Lucius?" she replied. "All our lives from the moment we started here were dominated by Harry's prophecy. I watched his face every time there were more killings and saw him try to live with the guilt. I saw him try to push everyone away to protect us. And I saw Hagrid carrying his body as Voldemort proclaimed that he'd killed him."

"But it was his prophecy, not yours. You had a choice."

"A choice," Ginny said bitterly. "You can't choose who you fall in love with."

"But you stayed away."

"I had no choice. I was under age. If I'd have gone with him, I'd have given away their position every time a spell was cast. Do you really think I'd have stayed behind in Hogwarts if it wasn't for that, whatever Harry said about protecting me?"

Lucius didn't reply.

"And he still has this thing about protecting, you know? He'd take over and fulfil your prophecy for you if he could. That's just who is. We came here, Harry accept this post, for one reason and one reason only. To support you, and to see you through. Your father had my parents killed, you know that?"

Lucius nodded.

"That was to try to persuade Harry not to come here, but we came anyway. So Harry has every right to train you as he judges is right. We had to tell Harry over and over again, and I'll tell you too. You are not alone in this. My parents may have been the first to die, but they weren't the last, and there'll be a lot more. Perhaps he'll kill Harry next, or me. We don't know what he has planned. But we choose to be here. And if he kills me for that choice, I still won't regret it. You have a choice too."

"What choice?"

"You can walk away. You can simply refuse the prophecy, just as Harry could have refused to die. That's your choice. Accept your role, or walk away. But if you accept your role, don't put yourself and all of us in danger by trying to go it alone."

"So what do I do?"

"Slow down a little. You're not even sixteen yet and Gail's only just fourteen..."

"Keep Gail out of this."

Ginny's head snapped up in anger. "Don't you think I would if I could? She's my daughter, just as much as the children I gave birth to. Do you think I want her in danger? Do you think I want either of you suffering like this, when you should be playing quidditch or swimming in the lake or..."

Ginny suddenly looked at Lucius, standing there still dripping, and laughed. "I guess Hermione got that bit right anyway." She cast a quick drying spell over him. "Come on, I can smell breakfast."

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**Author's note...**

**This one was a bit longer coming due to lack of inspiration. The next chapter MAY take even longer as over the next month I am moving house. As that means not just me and my stuff, but all the animals from the refuge I run (rescueddoggies dot com), and all of their stuff, kennels, fencing etc., that's going to take a lot of my time over the next month. To encourage me to make time to write, please review.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-one. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Lucius and Gail are back at Hogwarts for his fifth year and Gail's third year (even though she is only one year younger than him).**

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One of the changes Hermione had instituted at Hogwarts was the delivery of newspapers. She felt it was important that both staff and students didn't become isolated in their own little world. As well as the Prophet, she had ordered the Quibbler and a number of other wizarding titles, including teen witch, which the girls loved and a number of international newspapers.

But the most revolutionary was her decision to order a selection of muggle newspapers, mostly the national ones, but also a local Scottish one from the area closest to Hogwarts.

Surprisingly, it was Ron who spent the most time reading them and it was through the national muggle newspapers that he put together an idea of what was happening in the outside world.

"This wave of heart attacks that has the muggle health minister worried," he mentioned to Harry, "I'm sure it's death eaters again."

"Really? It wouldn't surprise me."

"And the series of gas explosions destroying houses," suggested Hermione.

"But gas fires are dangerous," Ron objected.

"Not when properly used, and there have been so many recently."

But it wasn't until a freak occurrence which made the headlines in both the muggle and wizarding press that anyone else in Hogwarts became interested.

"Muggle leaders dead!" screamed the Prophet headlines. There had been a meeting of senior muggle leaders and all of them had suddenly died of heart attacks. The Prophet reported that the Minister for Magic claimed that the event itself and the panic which followed it proved that muggles were weak and unstable and should not be allowed to rule Britain.

The muggle newspapers went into more detail about the sudden deaths in a cabinet meeting (Hermione had had to explain to Ron that this had nothing to do with furniture), and the strange appearance of a wispy green cloud over Downing Street, which some claimed looked like a face. The unaccountable deaths of the entire leadership had left the country in a total panic.

Hermione pointed out that this meant that the only muggle high official who knew of the wizarding world was now dead.

Harry stood up at the dinner that night and explained to the rest of Hogwarts what had happened. "Those of you who have paid attention in your history lessons will have guessed that the green cloud was almost certainly the dark mark, as used by supporters of Voldemort in the last wizarding war. You will have also seen articles in the Prophet quoting speeches from the Minister claiming that Voldemort was misunderstood, that he only wanted to put wizards first. As for his reaction to this attack, especially as it appears that he had a long, well-prepared written statement to give to the Prophet only hours after the attack actually happened, I leave you to draw your own conclusions."

Several hours after dinner Gail went up to the Weasleys' quarters to speak to Hermione. "How did this happen?" she asked.

"You're talking about the attack?"

"Not just that. In our first year, we studied your war in modern wizarding history..."

Hermione couldn't resist smiling at that. "It wasn't exactly my war."

"You know what I mean. But according to all the books, after Voldemort was killed, everything was made good. So how did all this start up again?"

Hermione sighed. "If only it was that simple. I guess you could say that we won the war and lost the peace."

"What do you mean? When you became head of Magical Law Enforcement you managed to get them to pass all sorts of laws to make things better for elves, werewolves, centaurs and lots of others. One book said you were the best Minister for Magic we never had."

Another, slightly smaller smile was quickly replaced by a sad look. "And those new laws were repealed when Minister Collins came to power."

"But HOW did he come to power? What went wrong?"

"We did," said Hermione bluntly. "We thought that by getting rid of the death-eaters, and changing a few laws, we'd made the country a better place forever. But after the war, even those who supported us didn't want to fight any more. So we compromised. Everyone just wanted peace by then and nobody wanted to do anything to disturb it. So we never really tackled the root of the problem."

"What was that?"

"The prejudice and imbalance of power that still exists. Many purebloods, who would never have supported someone as obviously evil as Voldemort, thought themselves better than muggleborns, better than elves or other magical beings. And only the old pureblood families have seats in the wizengamot, the real seat of power. I could never be Minister, not that I wanted to be, because you had to be a member of the wizengamot to become Minister. So the power stayed where it had always been, in the declining number of old pureblood wizarding families. Of course most weren't exactly pureblood by then anyway, but they could draw a line back into history showing their bloodline."

"That's not fair."

"No. It's not. And the old prejudices remained. Many thought I'd gone too far giving their rights away to others. They were only waiting for a voice to rally around, to tell them what they wanted to hear. And twenty years later, Collins did exactly that. He was a hero after all. He won the triwizard championship fifteen years after Harry did. When he left Hogwarts, he was the best chaser on the England quidditch team and was seen as the one who took them to victory twice running in the world cup, which had never been done before. Nobody took much notice of who he surrounded himself with. And when he started talking about wizards finding their right place in the world, many listened.

"We didn't take him seriously, none of us, unfortunately, and the old Minister died and suddenly Collins was chosen as the new Minister for Magic. Within a year he had purged most muggleborns, including me, out of senior positions in the Ministry. Those of us he couldn't discredit, he simply made our position impossible and ignored. Within two years he had repealed almost every law we had struggled to bring in. By the time we had begun to take his rhetoric seriously, it was too late. He had a firm power base which nobody could shift."

"But couldn't Harry fight him? Like he did Voldemort?"

"And set himself up as a murderer? And that's if he won the duel. Collins was elected remember. He never broke any wizarding law, at that point anyway, not that we could prove. Collins' power wasn't just as a single wizard either. He is never alone. He has well trained guards all around him all the time. And then we heard the prophecy, so Harry came here to do what he could."

"And you came with him."

"Yes. We came with him. During our war, as you call it, we swore we'd always be there for him, no matter what."

"That's what I feel like, with Lucius, I mean. The prophecy doesn't say much about me, so I don't really know what I'm supposed to do. I just think I have to stay close."

"You'll know, Gail. When the time is right, you'll know. Just as Harry did."

"I don't think he likes me very much."

"Who? Harry?"

"No. Lucius. He doesn't seem to want me around. When we're not training, he'll go off with the other older Slytherins, and it's like I don't exist."

"Maybe he just wants to protect you," suggested Hermione.

"But he can't do that, can he?" said Gail, sadly.

"No, but it won't stop him wanting to. Harry was like that too, you know. He insisted Ginny stay at Hogwarts, to be safe. But even there she wasn't safe."

"I know. I read about it. They used anyone who opposed them for practice for curses. They said it was a miracle they survived."

"You can probably thank Ginny's mother for that, partly anyway. She knew lots of medical spells and taught them all to Ginny. Neville Longbottom, for one, would have been dead if it wasn't for her. Luckily she taught them to the others in the DA before she had to go into hiding with her family."

"Can you teach them to me?"

"Yes, but why not ask your mother. She misses seeing you, you know."

"Okay."

"Did you have any more questions?"

"I don't think so."

"Good. Then it's really time you should be in bed. If a prefect stops you, tell them you were seeing me. But straight to bed now, okay?"

"Okay."

After Gail had gone, Hermione cried.

When Ron came in, having been supervising the seventh year chess club, he saw her reddened eyes before she'd had time to make herself look presentable.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Gail was in here earlier, asking how all this happened."

"So?"

"We let it happen, Ron. We let Collins come to power. I was so proud of everything I'd achieved and all it did was build up resentment which paved the way for Collins."

"That's not true," Ron tried to protest as Hermione continued.

"I sometimes think it would have been better if I had just been a muggle. I've made things worse than they were before. Even when I was at the Ministry, I knew there were some laughing behind my back, just like you did at S.P.E.W."

"I was wrong then, and so were they. Hermione, just ask Harry. If you hadn't been with us, we'd have probably been killed in the first year, if not by that damned plant, then by the potions. And if we'd survived the first year, without you, Voldemort would still have returned when Ginny opened the chamber, only she'd be dead, so would Harry, and probably so would all of us blood traitors. And in the third year..."

"I get your point."

"No," said Ron. "You listen. In the third year, without you, Sirius and Buckbeak would have died, in the fourth year, Harry would probably have been killed by the dragon. In the fifth year, without you the DA would never have started and Harry would probably have gone alone to the Ministry and been killed there. I'll skip the sixth year, none of us were exactly brilliant that year. But in the year of the battle, do you really think Harry would have stayed uncaptured all year without you, let alone found the horcruxes?

"If you weren't with us, Voldemort would still be in power, and we'd probably all be dead. So, you didn't achieve everything we wanted because a lot of idiots supported Collins. That isn't your fault. So don't let me hear you talking like that."

"But what's the point, Ron? Even if Lucius gets rid of Collins, all this will happen again, the next time some dark would-be lord tells them what they want to hear."

"You're right, Hermione. So should we give up? Because Harry won't,and Ginny won't. And I'm damned sure Lucius won't."

For once Hermione didn't commented on his language. That made Ron smile.

"You're right about one thing, though. After this war is over, we just have to find a way to make it stick this time. But you know what? We have to win this war first, so that's my priority right now. To help Harry make sure that Lucius wins this war. I'll worry about after the war, after the war."

Hermione squeezed his hand. "When did you get to be so wise?"

"Well," said Ron. "I am married to the brightest witch of the age."

"I love you, Ron, you know that."

"I know. Sometimes, I'm just glad when you need me as much as I need you."

"I've always needed you, Ron. You just took a long time to realise that."

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**Author's note...**

**Many thanks to harryginny01 for the inspiration for this chapter. Hopefully Hermione answered all the questions. Please review.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-two. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Outside the world is getting worse as Collins gains power and confidence.**

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As the school year progressed and their training continued, Gail seemed to become sadder and sadder. Shortly before the Christmas holidays, Ginny found Gail in their quarters, crying.

"What's the matter, darling? What are you doing here?"

"I didn't want to cry in Slytherin, it doesn't look good," Gail explained. "So I come here when I want to cry."

"Do you do this often?" Ginny asked, concerned.

Gail nodded.

"Why? What's upsetting you?"

"Lucius."

"Again? What's he done this time?"

"Nothing special. But why's he avoiding me, Mum? If he'd tell me what I'd done wrong it wouldn't be so bad."

"Have you asked him?"

"I only see him in our special lessons and he won't talk then. He just tells me not to be silly. The rest of the time he's off with his older friends and just ignores me."

"Well he is older than you. It's only natural that he has other friends."

"Some of them are my friends too. It's got even worse lately, since our water fight."

"Water fight?"

"In one of our duelling lessons, I soaked him with one of the water spells, so he got me back and we ended up having a water fight. We even got Luna."

"I remember. She told me. She also said that you get him with that spell quite a lot."

"I did," Gail admitted. "But he can block it easily now."

"Why that spell?"

"I er..."

"Yes?" asked Ginny, becoming somewhat amused.

"Well after Hermione's charm threw him in the lake, he came out all wet and I thought it was funny."

"From the look on your face when you came back to the castle, that wasn't all you thought."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?"

Gail reddened. "Well, it was nice seeing all his muscles through his shirt like that."

"So you started using a water spell in every one of your special lessons together."

"Not every lesson," Gail objected.

"Almost every lesson, according to Luna. So how do you feel about Lucius?"

"He's nice. At least, he used to be. He was my friend, but he doesn't seem to be now."

"Just a friend?"

"Yes. What do you mean?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean. How do you feel about Lucius now? Have your feelings changed at all?"

At that point Harry came into the room. Seeing they were talking, he said, "Don't mind me," and picked up a copy of the Prophet to read.

"So, Gail," repeated Ginny. "Have your feelings towards Lucius changed?"

"We're not talking about my feelings," said Gail. "We were talking about why he's avoiding me."

Ginny couldn't help a grin, but decided to drop the question. "Are you sure you're not exaggerating?" she asked.

"Even Michelle noticed it. So she decided the fifth year Slytherins would have a picnic in the room of requirement as it's too cold to picnic outside. Without Lucius knowing, she invited me to join them just after they'd started. She wanted to get this sorted out once and for all."

"And what happened?"

"When I walked in, Lucius was so annoyed, he got up and almost ran out of the room. He was in such a rush to get up, he even stuck his elbow in the butter, which made him even more annoyed. Mum, I think he hates me... Why are you both laughing?"

Harry tried to stop laughing long enough to ask, "He really stuck his elbow in the butter?"

"YOU weren't supposed to be listened," said Gail, angrily.

Harry tried to look sorry, but burst out laughing again.

"Lucius obviously hates me, and you two think it's funny," shouted Gail, getting up.

Ginny grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry, darling, but I don't think he hates you."

"He must do. And why are you both laughing?"

"Shall I tell her?" asked Harry.

"If you're going to do that, I'm going to see what's happening in the kitchens. I think I'll check Ron isn't eating too much," said Ginny, and left.

"What was that all about?" asked Gail.

Harry managed to calm himself down enough to explain.

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The next day at breakfast Lucius noticed that Gail had walked in with a strange smirk on her face. She then sat down just a few seats from him and reached for some toast. "Lucius, could you pass me the butter, please?" she asked in an unusually sweet voice.

It seemed to Lucius that everywhere he went the next two days, Gail seemed to appear out of nowhere. To make it even worse, the other Slytherin girls seemed to be giggling at him every time.

But his biggest shock came when Gail and he went for their duelling lesson the following day. Instead of her usual robe, Gail wore a tight top which was cut a few inches above her waist and the tightest shorts he'd ever seen.

He was trying so hard not to look at certain places that Gail won easily every single bout.

"It's not fair," he complained afterwards.

"What's not fair?" asked Gail, but he couldn't think of a word to reply.

He then spent half the night trying NOT to think about the parts he'd been trying not to look at.

The next day was worse, Gail accidentally (of course) forgot her robe, so she was just in the rest of her school uniform, but he was sure the skirt had never been that short before.

By the time it got to their next duelling lesson, he'd decided that if she was going to play that way, he could play too. So instead of trying not to look at her chest and her bum, he put on a grin and obviously stared at her, or perhaps leering would have been a better word, he admitted to himself honestly.

He soon found himself flat on his back with Gail's wand in his face. "Next time watch this," she gloated, "not these," pointing with her hand to her boobs.

"But she's just Gail," he argued with himself in bed that night. "I don't think of her that way."

"That's why you ended up flat on your back in five seconds flat," 'himself' answered back.

Over the next two weeks, Gail's teasing seemed to be getting worse. Unknown to Lucius, she'd actually been told to go back and put on a more decent skirt in one lesson.

One dinnertime before yet another private duelling lesson, she'd decided to wear her top and shorts to dinner. Even one of her house mates was curious and asked, "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Oh, no reason. I've got remedial duelling practice after dinner and I can't be bothered to go back down to change."

The smirk she lightly gave Lucius at that point made him determined to do something about her. To Gail's shock, Lucius pulled out his wand and after pointing it at her for a second, he raised it high and said something she couldn't hear over the chattering in the hall.

Immediately the ceiling turned to thunder and lightning and it began to pour with rain. Soaked to the skin in her tight top, Gail shrieked and covered herself with her hands before running from the hall to the sound of whistles from some of the boys.

When Lucius arrived at the room of requirement for their duelling practice, he noticed that Gail had been crying.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Happy you totally humiliated me in front of everybody, are you?" she screamed at him. She was still dressed in her wet clothes and hadn't bothered to dry herself.

"That's the pot calling the cauldron black," he shouted back. "Just because you know I've got a thing about you, you've been teasing me for weeks. Do you think it's funny?"

"No... Yes... No," replied Gail, suddenly realising that he finally admitted to 'having a thing' about her. She finally let her arms down and stood facing him.

"So," she asked. "Do you like what you see."

At that moment the door slammed open. "Good, you're ready," said Luna, at first not seeming to notice the state of her two charges, then lightly waving her wand in the direction of them both, drying their clothes instantly. "We'll try tickling hexes today."

"Tickling hexes?" they both cried.

"Yes," said Luna. "Almost as good as a cheering charm for battling the nargles."

Then lesson ended quite quickly with both of them collapsed on the floor laughing until they could barely breathe.

"Can we call a truce?" Lucius finally asked, when he'd got his breath back. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but I can't cope with it, alright? It's bad enough normally, but the way you've been dressing lately, even if I manage to get to sleep, I end up dreaming about you."

"You do?"

"Yes, alright. Satisfied? Think it's funny?" he asked bitterly.

"Well, you've been avoiding me," she shouted back. "I just wanted you to notice me." They'd both forgotten that Luna was even in the room.

"I duel with you most days. How can I not notice you?"

"I mean notice me," Gail replied, putting great emphasis on the word notice. She sighed and turned away.

As she ran away from Lucius, she didn't notice a quick flick of Luna's wand, but found herself suddenly running into Lucius instead and nearly falling over.

He caught her and held her up to stop her from falling. Looking up at him, she was surprised at the fire in his eyes. Before she had time to wonder what it was all about, he bent down to kiss her.

It was just a light kiss on the lips, but to Gail it could have been a hour long. As he pulled away, he said, "Gail. I'll always notice you, I promise."

Her heart felt as though it could hardly beat, but she lifted her arms and pulled his head down again. This time she kissed him.

As they released each other, Luna's voice broke into their own little world. "I think the lesson's over," she said and left the room, pointedly leaving the door open for them to leave as well.

They spent the next week exploring Hogwarts, deciding that they wanted to know the location of every broom closet in the castle, and try out each one.

Ginny sometimes watched them on Harry's map, and even once or twice, "accidentally" found them if they were in a closet for too long. She didn't say anything to Gail, but was secretly very pleased for her daughter.

"At least Lucius was quicker on the uptake than you," she told Harry one evening when he asked why she was watching his old map so much.

"Aren't you glad we don't need broom closets any more?" he replied.

But if Ginny was happy for Gail and Lucius, her feelings weren't shared by everyone.

Firstly, a few of the other Slytherin girls were a bit put out that Lucius was out of the market, at least for the time being.

But more importantly, word finally reached Lucius' father, who went into a rage. "How dare that little mudblood slut seduce my son?" he screamed.

"But I thought you said he wasn't your son any more?" his deputy asked him.

"He's not. But he still bears my name and I won't have it."

"It's probably just a temporary infatuation," his deputy tried to placate him.

"I don't care," shouted the Minister. "It reflects on me. This has gone on long enough. I want her dealt with. Tell my spies in Hogwarts, they have until the end of January to deal with the mudblood, or I will deal with them."

"Yes, sir."

As the deputy hesitated for a moment, the Minister yelled at him once again, "Well. Go then. Stop wasting time. And tell them not to make it quick. I want Potter to suffer as well as his mudblood spawn."

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**Author's note...**

**I'm assuming that anyone reading this understands about the butter dish without me having to have Harry spell it out. Please review. And do take a look at my other stories, including my first fic where I pair Harry with Hermione (all my stories up to now have been canon compliant). It's called The Harmony Bond, and yes, it's a 'soul bond' fic, but I haven't read one with Harry Hermione and the relationship is bound to be very different from Harry Ginny 'bond' fics. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story though.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-three. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J., her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

** As Gail and Lucius snog, the Minister plans...**

As far as Gail was concerned it was the perfect Christmas. She had more time to spend with Lucius and plenty of space in which to do so.

She was more amused than embarrassed when Ginny took her aside to give her "The Talk". She had assured Ginny that she wasn't ready for "anything like that" but had paid attention to the part where a not completely convinced Ginny told Gail about contraceptive charms and potions anyway.

The one who was most embarrassed was Harry. "Honestly," said Ginny. "It's not like you haven't had to do this before."

"I know," said Harry. "But that was easier."

"Why?"

"With James and Sirius I could concentrate on things like respecting a girl's wishes, not pushing her to do anything she wasn't ready far, treating the girl right if they did do anything, and being careful to take precautions."

"So what's the problem?"

"If I say all that to Lucius, it sounds like I'm telling him to do, well, you know what, with our daughter."

"You know what?" laughed Ginny. "You know, fear of a word only increases the fear of the thing itself."

"Very funny."

"And I wouldn't want you to get frightened of that now, would I?" she looked suggestively at her husband.

"You're impossible sometimes, you know that?" Harry said, exasperated.

"And to think that most muggleborns think the wizarding world is prudish," she retorted.

Seeing that he wasn't amused, Ginny went over to sit next to him. "Harry. Be realistic. They obviously care for each other. I don't want her doing anything like that yet either. They're too young. But if they do, I'd rather they had a good experience than a bad one, and I'd rather they were able to be careful."

Harry sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"Anyhow," said Ginny with a grin. "What else were you going to tell him? Every time he's with Gail for more than five minutes he should run off and take a cold shower?"

"Wouldn't be a bad idea," laughed Harry.

"Well at least they won't have quite so much time together now," Ginny pointed out, "as the new term is starting."

Harry would have been less worried if he'd known just how Lucius and Gail did spend their time together.

At first they had spent a lot of time snogging as Ginny still jokingly referred to it as, but as the year ended and new term began not only did they have less time, but Gail had found that Lucius became increasingly moody whenever they'd been snogging for a time.

Like the majority of the Hogwarts students, they tended to avoid broom cupboards now since Harry had laughingly told Ron of his conversation with Ginny about the talk.

It had given Ron the idea of charming the broom cupboards to become an icy cold shower any time someone was in there for too long. The water was charmed too, not to be affected by a drying charm, so the unlucky, wet, cold and usually highly embarrassed couple caught out by Ron's spell had to run back to their dorms soaking wet, it being obvious to everyone what the couple had been doing.

It had only taken a week or so of this before the message got around all the students that broom cupboards were fine for a quick snog, but nothing more.

The only exception to this was one of Hermione's best transfiguration students in his seventh year, who had transfigured the shower head into an umbrella. But he didn't tell anyone of that as he didn't want it to get back to Ron causing him to change the charms.

So students had to find other places for a snog, the only problem being that the moment a place became popular, as the astronomy tower had done for a while, it seemed to get turned into a shower remarkably quickly. Most students were not aware that Ron had Harry's marauders' map.

Although admitting that it probably wasn't a bad idea of Ron's, Ginny thought payback was only fair, and one night she and Harry were disturbed in bed by a very angry Ron, soaked having been in bed with Hermione.

Hermione had actually been able to counter the charm and dry herself and their bed, but Ron had gone storming out to confront Ginny before Hermione had done so.

Ron's tantrum hadn't had much effect on Ginny apart from to make her collapse in hysterical laughter. Harry had, however, made Ginny apologise to Hermione at least, the following morning.

Hermione had actually been quite amused, much to Harry's surprise.

So with the broom cupboards and other likely places written off (or should that be washed out?) as places to enjoy themselves, Lucius and Gail, like many other students, were forced to go outside and the Scottish winter was notoriously wet and cold.

But as Ron had pointed out, they couldn't get into too much trouble having snowball fights.

When they did get together, Lucius' moods worried Gail. It had taken a lot of coaxing before he had finally admitted that he still didn't feel comfortable about them being together.

Gail had been hurt for a minute until he had explained that he was sure that the more they were together, the bigger a target Gail was, and, as he said honestly, "I just couldn't bear to lose you. I can't even imagine what I'd do if anything happened to you."

Gail had brushed off his concern, pointing out that, if anything, he was the bigger target and it should be her worrying about losing him.

In the last week of January, Gail had insisted on a big party in Slytherin to celebrate Lucius' sixteenth birthday. He had objected to the fuss, pointing out that it was only his sixteenth birthday, not his seventeenth, when he would be considered an adult in the wizarding world.

"Oh, I don't know," said Michelle mischievously. "Sixteen is pretty important too."

"Why?" Lucius asked suspiciously.

"In the muggle world, you can legally have sex at sixteen. But not with Gail," she had added, "as she's not even fifteen yet."

There was plenty of firewhiskey at the party and they all had far too much to drink.

That night, in her dorm, Gail was trying to sleep but had already developed a massive hangover. She didn't even want to think what it would be like in the morning.

Half sleep, she noticed someone by her bed. "Who's it?" she murmured.

"It's okay," a girl she couldn't make out replied. "Lucius thought you might need hangover potion in the morning."

"Okay, thanks."

But after the girl had gone, she said to herself, "I think I need this now."

A few hours later her tossing and moaning in her bed had woken her dorm-mates.

Shortly after that she found herself in the hospital. "She's still burning up," Florence was telling Harry.

"Do you know what's caused this?" he asked.

"Yes. I had a look at the potion left in the glass by her bedside table. Someone gave her squib potion."

"What's that?"

"Sorry, headmaster. I always forget that you were muggle-raised. Centuries ago, during wars between powerful pureblood families, one trick they used was to somehow slip a potion to one of the other family. They usually picked one or more of the children as it wasn't easy to trick an adult witch or wizard as the potion is quite distinctive. It turned them into a squib. Some magical families were wiped out by it until it finally became illegal to even possess it or attempt to make it."

Harry was shocked. "You mean, after all she's been through to regain it, Gail is going to lose her magic again?"

"Yes," admitted Florence.

"Will it be permanent?"

"If she'd drunk it all, definitely. There is one other factor as well."

"What's that?"

"She'd had quite of lot of alcohol that night. Alcohol does reduce the potion's effects. That might help you find out who did this."

"How?"

"A fully trained wizard would have checked out something like that. My guess is it was a student who did this to her."

"Thank you," Harry replied grimly.

Florence reached over to put a hand on Harry's arm. "She will recover, thanks to the alcohol and her not drinking all the potion anyway. It will take time, but she will recover."

Harry nodded.

"Oh, Headmaster. Before you go. The Collins boy wants to be with her. Is that okay, given that it was probably a Slytherin that did this?"

"Lucius can stay with her. Nobody else," Harry instructed.

All the staff examined Gail's dorm from top to bottom, and interviewed her dorm mates as well as all the other Slytherins trying to find out who had poisoned Gail, but after three days of investigating, Ron finally admitted that they still had no idea who had done it.

Michelle and some of Gail's other friends had been upset at not being allowed to visit Gail in the hospital wing, so Harry had finally relented.

Lucius kept a brave face in front of Gail, but was heartbroken every time he left Gail's bedside.

"You can talk about it, you know," suggested Hermione one evening.

"What bloody good will that do?" he had responded angrily.

Hermione, realising how worried and upset Lucius was, did not reprimand him for his language. "For a while at least, they've taken from Gail the thing that means most to her."

"I know that," Lucius snapped.

"She's going to need you to be strong for her. And you can't help her if you're burning up with guilt and anger. You've every right to be angry. I'm not saying you haven't. But you have to let it go. Gail needs you to be calm and reassuring right now."

Lucius nodded tearfully. "I know."

"If you need to just let it out, or scream or shout, I'm sure Luna can conjure something in the room of requirement. If you just need to talk, I'm here when you need me, and so are Ron, Harry and Ginny."

Lucius actually smiled. "I thought you once said that Ron had the emotional range of a teaspoon."

"Oh, that was a long time ago. It's almost a teacup now."

Becoming serious again, Lucius asked, "Do you know how long it's going to take for Gail to regain her magic?"

"You'd be better asking Florence that."

"I did. She went on for about five minutes and I couldn't understand a word."

Hermione laughed. "Florence does tend to get a bit technical. Okay. I think she's put her answer in a long form that's difficult to understand because she doesn't really know and is just guessing. From the tests she's done so far, Gail still has about ten percent of her previous magical power, which is borderline with the level of a squib. That's a slight increase on the power level she had right after the attack. If her recovery continues at the same rate, she'll be at something like her previous power level in about nine or ten months."

"Ten months? She's going to get so far behind again."

"Only on the practical. We'll give her extra tutoring on the theory so she'll be ahead on that, then, as her power returns, she can begin to catch up with the practical. Remember a lot of the spells don't depend on sheer power, so she should be able to practice many of them in just three or four months. We'll help her over the summer holidays, so she won't be too far behind when she starts her fourth year in September."

Lucius nodded. "Thank you yet again, Hermione. Have you ever thought of taking up counselling as a profession?"

After he had left, Hermione smiled. Counselling? No thanks. I've got enough to cope with being married to Ron and having to calm down Harry and Ginny when they need it.

The next evening in the hospital wing, Lucius suggested to Gail that they simply move her own comfortable bed into the hospital wing permanently, just to save time, as she was in there so often.

"You're lucky I can't do magic right now, Lucky boy. Just you wait till I'm out of here. I'll look up every hex which doesn't need a lot of power."

She hadn't expected his serious reaction.

"I'll help you. I love you. You know that, don't you?"

Gail had never been so pleased to see Florence come in as she was at that moment. Florence insisted it was time for Lucius to go and for Gail to go to sleep.

But Gail was too excited to sleep. "How can I sleep when he told me he loves me?" she said to herself.

**Author's note...**

** If you have this story on alert, please consider adding it as a favourite story. That way anyone who views your page can find out about this story. I've found many great stories that way myself. The same applies to author alerts/favourite authors. Thank you.**

** Just to let you all know, I had to change something at the end of the previous chapter. The Minister had given the Slytherins until the end of term to deal with "the mudblood", but it already WAS about the end of term, so I've re-uploaded it with the revised wording, until the end of January. **

** Poor Gail. She seems to be aiming to break Harry's record for hospital wing visits. I hope the chapter wasn't too mushy for you all. Please review.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-four. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J., her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

** Gail is ill again.**

Although Florence wouldn't allow Gail out of the hospital wing for a few weeks, it was nothing like her previous visit there, Gail thought to herself. She wasn't in pain for a start, and her life wasn't in danger, unless it was from sheer boredom. And Lucius and her other friends were doing their best to help with that.

But long before Easter, her constant pleas to be allowed to rejoin her schoolmates had been answered.

She found the atmosphere in the school had changed rather. It had seemed to be a haven from the growing storm in the world outside, now word of the attack on Gail had got out, there was an atmosphere of suspicion, especially amongst the Slytherins.

Just the fact that Harry Potter's foster daughter was in Slytherin had done much to change it's reputation for the better. Now the old suspicions had returned and even Gail found herself being watched warily by members of the other houses.

Assured that her magic would return, she surprised herself by not being worried about her sudden lack of it, although when she overheard someone say losing her magic wouldn't make much difference to her as she was almost a squib anyway she was angry enough to shout a caustic reply until she remembered just in time that the reason everyone in school thought that she and Lucius were so weak magically was because of the restricting charms on their wands to lessen their power outside of their own private lessons.

Obviously the trick to fool everyone was working. She just hoped that story about them made it's way right up to the Minister and his henchmen.

Now she was out of the hospital, Lucius wasn't spending much spare time with her. It was almost as if he was back to his old tricks of trying to avoid her, although he wasn't doing it so obviously this time.

The rest of the school year passed frustratingly slowly for Gail, and so she threw herself into her studies to try to at least get ahead on the theory in each class. It paid off as for once her marks were actually better than Lucius', which was quite an achievement as he was usually around the top two or three in each class, whereas previously she'd been a little below the middle in most classes.

She wasn't sure how to handle Lucius. When he was with her alone, he was loving enough, but those times weren't as often, and sometimes he was decidedly cool to her when they were in the company of others.

So often she has tried to summon up the courage to ask him about it, but she realised that she was scared of losing the relationship they did have if she pushed him too hard.

She knew, however, that she couldn't put this off forever. It was beginning to hurt too much.

Finally the school year came to a close and Lucius and Gail were left alone at Hogwarts, with those staff who stayed and all the castle elves and ghosts. Much as she loved the bustle of the school, Hogwarts seemed almost more magical to her when she had it almost to herself.

Gail's growing suspicions that Lucius was putting on an act to protect her were reinforced by the fact that he's begin seeking her out again and with the school empty, and the weather much warmer it was easy to find places to be alone together, despite Ron's attempts at dampening their enthusiasm.

But the castle was about to be a lot less empty.

During the holidays Gail spent a lot more time with Harry and Ginny, while Lucius, much to his own surprise, had become firm friends with both Ron and Hermione.

Seeing the unlikely pair of Ron and Lucius together so often made Ginny comment to Harry, "For Gail's sake, I just hope he doesn't follow Ron's footsteps on relationships with girlfriends."

Remembering all the rows Ron and Hermione had had when they were young, Harry just snorted with laughter.

It was during a quiet family dinner that the peace of the holidays was disturbed as the bare fireplace suddenly lit up with floo powder.

"Beauxbatons is under attack," the disembodied face announced.

"Stay with Gail," Harry ordered Ginny as he shouted "Beauxbatons" into the dying flames and disappeared.

Ginny turned to Gail and said, "Stay here," before she also disappeared after waving her wand in a strange fashion Gail hadn't seen before.

Not likely, Gail thought, and threw down some floo powder and stepped into the flames herself, shouting "Beauxbatons."

Nothing happened, except that the flames slowly died down as the floo powder was exhausted. Gail guessed that Ginny had somehow locked the floo to prevent her following.

She ran to the Weasley quarters to let Ron and Hermione know. Predictably, Ron did exactly as Harry had done. Hermione, however stayed. She was the only remaining member of staff in the castle that day, so she couldn't leave. For the castle wards to remain at full strength, at least one member of the teaching staff had to be at the castle at all times.

So she joined Lucius and Gail in a time of frustrating and worrying waiting for news.

It wasn't long before Harry returned carrying an injured woman Gail recognised as Gabrielle. "Hermione. Can you care for her? The others are coming soon. Ask the castle elves to make up beds for the whole family."

Harry and Gabrielle were followed by a stream of Weasleys and Potters and every minute or so, an elf appeared to lead the new arrivals to their rooms.

Finally settling down in the Weasley's lounge, Harry explained. "None else was hurt, Ron," Harry assured him. "It was a botched attack really. A large group of deatheaters and dark creatures thought they'd try to attack our family. They were easily beaten off by our family and the few staff there at Beauxbatons right now. Gabrielle was unlucky. She was out swimming when they came upon her and stunned her, thinking to collect her later. She recovered too soon for them and came up to attack them from behind, but as they were beaten off from Beauxbatons, they ran to the edge of the grounds. She was in their path and they simply hexed her as they ran. I think they meant to capture her, but Ginny and I and Fleur were there too quickly with Bill, and after a few of Bill's curses, they decided against stopping to pick up Gabrielle."

"I bet," laughed Ron. "Is she okay though?"

"Yeah, she will be. Fleur's with her now."

Ron noticed that Ginny had a big grin on her face. "She's already talking about how Harry Potter saved her life a second time."

"I didn't save her life the first time," protested Harry. "Dumbledore would never have left her in the lake. And this time, if anything, it was Bill's curses that kept them running. I guess a lifetime breaking curses for Gringotts has taught him a thing or two."

The next day Gabrielle, much to her own relief, was released from the hospital wing, where Hermione, Ginny and Fleur had been caring for her, and the meal that night was a huge family celebration.

"Pity we didn't actually capture any of them," moaned Ron.

"Not our jurisdiction," Hermione pointed out. "It might have made things awkward with the French Ministry if you had."

A few weeks later, they were informed that the wards and other protections at Beauxbatons had been upgraded and the family were to return.

They decided to wait a few days though, as it was Gail's fifteenth birthday and it would be nice, Fleur had thought, to have all her family around for her birthday.

The elves outdid themselves at her birthday feast, with a huge selection of both English and French dishes.

"You shouldn't have got them to go to all this trouble," Gail had protested.

"Nonsense," said Fleur. "In many countries a girl is considered a woman when she is fifteen and ready to become a wife."

Gail would have looked shocked at Fleur's words as she certainly didn't feel ready for anything like that, but instead she burst out laughing at the sudden groan from Harry.

"Great," he said. "Thanks Fleur. You'll be giving her ideas and she's probably got enough already for herself." He looked pointedly at Lucius, who just looked highly embarrassed by the whole conversation.

Thankfully the conversation quickly drifted away from her love life, much to Gail's relief.

When her party was finally over, Gail returned to her dormitory at Slytherin, opening her dorm room door with the Alohomora spell, just for practice. Good. As predicted, her magic was slowly returning.

Well after midnight she was still lying awake, unable to sleep, when she heard a tell-tale creak. The main door to Slytherin had just opened and closed. She pulled on some clothes and quickly ran as quietly as she could to their common room. Nobody. If nobody had entered, perhaps someone had gone out. And that only left Lucius.

She caught up with him only yards outside the main doors to Hogwarts. "And where do you think you're going?" she demanded loudly.

"Shh," he hissed. "Go back to bed."

"Like I'm going to do that. What are you doing? Tell me or I'll wake everyone." She had spotted the bag he was carrying.

"I'm leaving."

"What?"

"You heard."

"Why? When did you decide this?"

"After they attacked Beauxbatons. My father only ordered the attack on your family to get back at them for sheltering me. So I'm running away."

"Where to?"

"I'm going to live as a muggle until I can defeat him."

Gail snorted with laughter. "A muggle? You?"

"What's wrong with that?" he asked, offended.

"Sorry, Lucius, but you would never pass for a muggle for long, and you don't have any idea how to live as one."

"I'd manage."

"Yeah, and you'd end up doing magic to survive and then you'd be caught."

He sounded desperately unhappy as he sighed.

"Now if we planned it properly, and I came with you..."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I'm not putting you in danger."

"Listen here. I'm in that prophecy too. If I am here, the family is in just as much danger as if you are here. And at least I know how to live as a muggle, which is more than you do."

"I've taken muggle studies."

"Great. Knowing what a rubber duck is for is really going to help you survive in the muggle world. I'm coming with you. That's the end of it. But not tonight. We need to plan everything. I bet you haven't even worked out how we are going to survive."

"I'll manage," he protested weakly.

"No," Gail replied firmly. "We'll manage. You know for someone who's either top or nearly top of every class, you quite stupid sometimes."

"Why?"

"We're in this together, like it or not. And the sooner you realise that, the sooner we can defeat that mad monster of a father of yours."

Defeated, Lucius sighed deeply and asked, "So when do we go?"

"Well, how about we leave when the Hogwarts express returns to London empty?"

"Why wait that long?"

"If we're suddenly missing at the welcoming feast, word will get back to your father, especially if we send a howler to the feast saying we're staying away so everyone will know. And Harry and the professors will be so busy at the start of term, they won't have so much time to try to find us."

Lucius grinned. "No wonder Professor Weasley says you're a real Slytherin. That was brilliant."

"I'm not just a pretty face you know."

"Flattering yourself now?"

"You didn't think my face was so bad in the grounds yesterday."

"You're not bad looking, I suppose."

"Right now I'm going to wake everyone up and let them know I caught you."

"What?" he exclaimed.

"Unless you swear to me you won't try to sneak out on your own again."

"Bitch," he laughed.

"That's Witch. It's spelt with a W," she argued. But suddenly her arguing stopped as he kissed her.

"Did I say you could?"

"No. I can stop if you like."

"You'd better not," she replied, kissing him back.

**Author's note...**

** As I said in the update on my other story today, sorry for the long delay. Not only did I have to spend all weekend preparing the new refuge before I FINALLY move house this coming weekend, but I spent half of last week in bed with a bad cold which gave me a headache just to look at the computer screen. It's still lingering so if this chapter isn't too good, I'll blame that as I still feel rough. Probably overdid the working at the weekend.**

** Some of you may have missed the following message in the notes to the last chapter (as I added it after I originally uploaded the chapter)... If you have this story on alert, please consider adding it as a favourite story. That way anyone who views your page can find out about this story. I've found many great stories that way myself. The same applies to author alerts/favourite authors. Thank you.**

** Please review.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-five. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail and Lucius have decided to run away from Hogwarts.**

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The sun was setting as the two youngsters slipped out of hogwarts towards the gates on the track which led to Hogsmead. By the time they reached the station, it was almost completely dark. Soon a bright light appeared in the distance and slowly grew closer and even brighter.

Finally they could see sparks from the funnel and the glow from the fire in the cab. As the locomotive passed where they were crouched down, the lights from the carriages blazed at them.

"It really looks something, doesn't it?" Gail commented. "A lot bigger than when it's at the platform."

From their hiding place they couldn't see the students disembarking, but they could hear the chatter, which luckily hid the noise the owl they had borrowed from the owlery was beginning to make.

The chatter gradually faded as some left in the boats and others took the carriages to the castle. As soon as everything seemed quiet, they climbed up onto the train from the other side. It was harder than it looked, especially carrying an owl. Just as the train left the station they were plunged into blackness as someone turned out the lights on the train. Whoever had done that had also turned off the heating, so it began to get colder.

A little later, giving the owl the package they had prepared, they let it go. In the almost complete darkness they lost sight of the owl almost immediately.

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The feast was well under way when a solitary owl flew into the great hall and headed straight for Harry Potter. It dropped the red envelope on the table in front of him and flew away.

Students close enough to see gasped. Who would send Harry Potter a howler?

Puzzled, Harry opened it.

"HEADMASTER," it began loudly, in a voice easily recognisable as Lucius, "AND STAFF AND STUDENTS OF HOGWARTS. WE WILL NO LONGER PUT YOU IN DANGER BY STAYING AT HOGWARTS, SO WE HAVE LEFT. YOU WILL SEE US AGAIN WHEN WE ARE READY."

The voice changed to that of Gail. "DON'T WORRY. WE WILL BE SAFE. AND WITHOUT US, SO WILL YOU."

"DO NOT TRY TO FIND US" added Lucius.

"WE'LL MISS YOU ALL" finished Gail, her voice breaking slightly.

As the howler rolled itself up and tore itself into small pieces there was a stunned silence throughout the great hall. Ginny got up and ran out, with Hermione and Harry following her.

The rest of the meal was conducted in near silence with just a lot of whispering amongst the tables. Even Ron didn't want to eat much more and soon got up to go.

Later that evening, Harry came down the stairs from their quarters to find a small, somewhat agitated group facing him.

"We want to know what's going on," said the head girl, a Ravenclaw.

"I'm afraid that's private. I can't tell you," Harry replied.

"If it put us at risk, don't we have a right to know?" asked one of the boys, a Hufflepuff.

"Well, if it did, they aren't here now, are they?" Harry pointed out.

The head boy, also a Hufflepuff, glared at the one who had just spoken about their risk and right to know. "Look, we know someone's been trying to kill them. The way we look at it, they're safer here. We want to help."

Harry looked stunned. "I thought you hated all Slytherins."

The head girl looked embarrassed. "We figured that we need to come together on this. If we stand together, not even the Ministry can beat us. Not only that, but if so many are trying to kill those two, we're guessing it was like it was with you."

"What do you mean?"

"There's some kind of prophecy about them, isn't there? It's the only thing that makes sense."

Harry's face dropped. "I can't tell you."

"We'll take that as a yes then. But sir. Obviously the one who wants to kill them knows, so why the secrecy?"

"I can't say anything," he said, turning and walking back to his quarters.

Half an hour later he was talking with Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna. "What do I do?" he asked.

Luna smiled. "Trust a Ravenclaw to figure it all out. And I think she's right. The Minister knows, his death eaters know, so what's to lose?"

"We could even publicise it," suggested Hermione, "so others can choose to help them wherever they are. After all, the Minister's minions will know and be looking for them. If others who can help them, know to try to help them..."

"How?"

Luna smiled. "How else? You are looking at the publisher of the second most popular newspaper in wizarding Britain."

Hermione cracked a smile at the description of the Quibbler as a newspaper, but stayed silent.

But Luna hadn't finished. "And you should announce it tomorrow night as well."

"What?" cried Ron. "Have Harry stand up and say the Minister's a dark lord trying to kill Lucius and Gail and they should all fight him?"

"Exactly," said Luna.

Ron groaned.

But Harry commented, "I think it might work."

"It might get you sacked."

"I'm tired of always reacting to what he does. It's time we took a stand."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When the empty Hogwarts express arrived back at platform 9 and 3/4, Harry and Ron were there, and quickly searched the train. As they'd expected, Lucius and Gail were not aboard.

Far north of London, Lucius and Gail, had jumped from the train as it went slowly round a bend, their landing made soft by a quickly cast cushioning charm, which they had grown adept at casting in their duelling practice. By the time Harry and Ron were looking for them, they were several miles for the line, hiding in a barn.

Gail had been shivering until Lucius hugged her close to him. "We'll be okay," he tried to assure her.

Gail, knowing that it would be her meagre knowledge of the muggle world they would be relying on, wasn't so sure. But she'd make it work somehow, she just had to.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Harry had planned to make his announcement the following night at dinner. It was the meal which everybody attended, as lunch was staggered during the week and quite a lot of students missed breakfast favouring a lie-in instead.

All the staff were sitting at the top table. This was unusual as on most nights some would have been home with their families. But before Harry could sit down he was approached by the head boy and girl and the senior prefect from each of the other houses.

"Sir," said the Ravenclaw head girl. "Can we have a word?"

He nodded and walked to the side of the hall, away from everyone else. "Yes?"

"The announcement you were going to make tonight. Don't make it."

"How did you know...?" Harry began. He chuckled, "It's Hogwarts. It's a secret, so naturally everybody knows."

"Yes, sir. But it's important that you don't make that announcement tonight."

"Why?"

"This is direct rebellion against the Ministry. It could get you sacked or sent to Askaban. Let us organise the rebellion, just like you did."

"Well, it wasn't exactly a rebellion..." Harry argued.

"I don't think Umbridge would have agreed with that statement, sir. As I was saying, let us do it. Keep it underground. Unlike last time, everyone will know about it, but nobody will know who is involved and what we are doing. We have it planned out."

"And what are you doing?"

"Probably best you don't know sir."

Harry thought hard.

"Well, sir?"

"On one condition. You run into problems, you tell one of us, straight away, no second thoughts."

"Agreed, sir."

If any of the staff who had come to dinner that night to hear Harry's announcement were surprised by the fact that he said nothing, none of them let him know.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next day, deep within the Ministry, in the Minister private offices, Minister Collins was furious, tossing out cruciatus curses at anyone who even mildly offended him. "He ran away with the mudblood before I could kill them," he ranted to some of his closest assistants.

"But sir," said one of his braver aides, "this could be good."

"How?"

"They are away from the protection of Potter..."

"Don't say that name."

If his aide was amused that he was treating Potter as He Who Must Not Be Named, he was wise enough to keep his amusement to himself. "It should be easy, with the entire force of the Ministry behind you, to find two runaway kids. And away from... Hogwarts, you can just kill them easily."

"True. But doing it at Hogwarts would have hurt him more, and discredited him forever."

"If you kill them, he has lost anyway. The only reason he went there was to protect the new Chosen One. He will have failed totally."

"Hmm," mused the Minister. "I want him dead, but to see him know he has failed first, especially to lose that thing he calls a daughter..." He smiled. "Get me the editor of the prophet."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"CRAZED RUNAWAYS FLEE HOGWARTS" blared the headline. Photos of both Lucius and Gail featured prominently above an article explaining that two emotionally disturbed students had run away from Hogwarts on the first night of term. A photo of Harry looking worried headed a paragraph asking that anyone spotting the runaway students should alert the Ministry at once, and be careful not to go too near to them, so that headmaster Potter could be notified to collect them safely. A final paragraph mentioned that "some students believe that headmaster Potter's obsession with training against the dark arts may have driven these unbalanced students over the edge."

When Hermione read out aloud about headmaster Potter being notified to collect them safely, Ron snorted. "Yeah, like they're interested in their safety or letting Harry know."

Harry noticed that Ginny had gone white. "From what I hear, you faced everything here without turning a hair while Hermione, Ron and I were camping. Don't worry."

"She's my little girl, Harry," Ginny sobbed.

"I know," he replied, hugging her tightly. "I worry too. But they're well trained. They'll be okay."

"Against the whole ministry, not to mention death-eaters?"

"I'd worry about the death-eaters if Gail gets hold of them if they try to hurt Lucius."

Ginny almost cracked a smile. Almost.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The "unbalanced" runaways were oblivious of their sudden fame. They had avoided wizarding areas, stealing food as they could, which made Gail feel a little guilty, but she knew it was necessary. At least they weren't going as hungry as Harry, Hermione and Ron had, so many years ago.

But after a week of having to sleep anywhere they could find, desperately trying not to be spotted, and living off whatever scraps they could steal, both were becoming irritable with each other.

"I've had an idea," said Gail. "Let's go to a big city. They have places where they give out food to the homeless. Some even have showers and beds."

Lucius looked uncertain.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do you think?"

"If we get a hot meal, I'll chance it."

"That's all you think of. Food."

"Wouldn't you like a hot meal?"

"Well, yes. But I'd like a hot bath or shower first."

It took them two days to make their way to Manchester. They'd chosen it as there was no major wizarding community near there. They asked around and quickly found a place where they gave out hot soup and bread to the homeless. Joining the queue, they took their soup and drank it down eagerly.

They'd finished their soup when a man walked over to them. "You two look like you need some more." He handed them some more bread and refilled their mugs with soup.

"So what are you two youngsters doing out so late? You're not from around here, are you?"

"Er, no. We were going to visit an uncle, and we got stranded," said Gail, desperate to sound convincing.

"Really? And that's why you've gulped down the soup like you haven't eaten properly in days.

"We're okay."

"There are places for runaway children, you know."

"We're not runaways."

"Of course not. How about we find you both a bed for the night, then talk about it in the morning? You can even get your clothes washed."

Gail looked at Lucius uncertainly. He made a decision. "Okay. Thanks."

The man turned around and called to a woman in the serving line. "Mary. Two for you, I think?"

She nodded. "I thought as much. Take them to the van."

The man took Lucius and Gail outside and led them into the back of a van. "Your carriage awaits," he said, but the moment they had got into the back of the van and sat down, he slammed the doors and they heard the lock click into place.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Author's note...**

**I finally found a little time to write, though the house is still chaos and I still have to finish the fencing for the refuge. A lot of this chapter was written in quiet times at work! I hope it's okay. Please review.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-six. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**Dedication.**

**This chapter is dedicated to the memory of actor Rob Knox, murdered by a knife-man a few days ago, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, while protecting his younger brother. Rob played Marcus Belby, one of the "slug club", in the upcoming film, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. May I express my best wishes to his family (who will probably never see this page) and the hope that Warner Brothers will make a more meaningful dedication than this page, in the film credits.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail and Lucius have run away from Hogwarts but are now locked in a muggle van.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

They didn't have long to wait as a couple of minutes later the woman they knew was called Mary, opened the driver's door of the van. "Sorry to lock you in. Rules, you know."

"Why?" asked Lucius.

"I can just imagine the Minister's face if we lost you and something happened to you."

The woman began to drive and Lucius considered using magic to escape, but he decided against it. Anyone working for his father would have thought of that.

The woman appeared to be doing something with something in her hand. Then she threw whatever it was onto the other front seat, swearing under her breath.

Now they were out of the centre of town and the houses were bigger, with large gardens. The van stopped outside some large gates and the gates creaked as they opened by themselves.

"You know the Minister?" asked Gail, trying not to show how scared she was.

The woman laughed. "Of course not. But last time we picked up a runaway and let her go, her body was found three days later. The Minister had to answer questions in parliament and they tightened up all our procedures. It's only for your safety."

"Parliament?"

The woman pointed to a sign on the gate, it said "Private Property. Staffordshire Social Services." She turned to them and said, "Welcome to your new temporary home, until we decide what we can do with you."

As they drove through the gate, it began to slide back into place until with a loud metallic clang, it was shut.

Mary had driven the van round to the back of the house, where she stopped. "Wait here just a minute, I haven't let them know you are coming yet."

She jumped out and knocked on the back door of the house. It opened to reveal a somewhat frazzled-looking middle aged woman dressed in a rather old navy blue towelling dressing gown tied tightly at her waist. "Sorry, Mrs. Pearson. I couldn't ring. Damn phone not working again. I've got two runaways for you."

Lucius and Gail couldn't hear the reply, but then Mary spoke again.

"I don't know. Tonight certainly, then day duty will interview them." Then she turned towards the van, "OKAY KIDS," she bellowed, unnecessarily as they could hear her perfectly well, "COME ON IN."

Lucius and Gail jumped down and dragged their bags with them. Mrs. Pearson looked at them like they were something nasty she had found on her shoe. "You'd better come in."

"I have to get back. Mrs. Pearson will look after you," said Mary, then bent down slightly to whisper in Gail's ear, "Her bark's worse than her bite."

As if to prove the truth of what Mary had said, Mrs. Pearson led them into the kitchen. "You've eaten, I suppose?"

"Yes," replied Lucius.

"Thank you," added Gail.

Mrs. Pearson looked a little less stern for a moment. "At least ONE of you has some manners," she said pointedly to Lucius.

"Thank you," Lucius added belatedly.

"Very well. It's late. Everyone else is in bed. I'll have someone show you around properly tomorrow, but now you can go to bed. What are your names?"

"I'm Lucius," replied Lucius, then wished he'd thought of another name to give instead.

"Gail."

Mrs. Pearson nodded shortly. "Okay. Lucius, Follow me. Gail, wait here for a minute and don't touch anything."

She led Lucius through some corridors and up some stairs. "Here is the boys' bathroom. Keep it clean after you use it." She stopped outside another door and opened it. "Let's see," she said, reaching in to grab something. "These should fit you well enough." She handed him some old-looking pyjamas in a faded blue which might once have matched her dressing gown. "Your bed for tonight is the first on the right. Don't wake the others. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Lucius could just about see 'his' bed from the dim night light in the room. He was too tired to bother to change and simply collapsed on top of the bed, knowing that he was too worried to sleep. He was wrong.

Lucius was asleep before Mrs. Pearson had even shown Gail the girls' bathroom. She had handed Gail another pair of pyjamas, this time in a pale yellow, which Gail had grimaced at.

When she showed Gail her dormitory, Gail had asked, "May I had a shower first, please?"

"If you're quiet. Be careful, the water's quite hot at this time of night. Be quick and don't wake anyone."

What the time of night had to do with the water temperature mystified Gail slightly, but Mrs. Pearson didn't seem the sort of person to ask. It didn't stop her enjoying the hot shower, luxuriating in the water, until she remembered that she was supposed to be being quick. She saw a large bottle with "Shampoo" written on it, and poured some into her hand and quickly massaged it through her hair. "Bliss," she thought.

In a short time, she was also in bed. "Who are you?" whispered a voice.

"Gail."

"Another runaway?"

"Er. Yeah."

"Oh. Okay." Gail heard the girl turned over to go back to sleep. Soon Gail was also asleep, too tired to even think about tomorrow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The same week had seen an incredible transformation at Hogwarts. The head girl, Lucilia Bones and the head boy, Marcus Brant had organised a training regime more ambitious than any Hermione had ever planned.

Not only was the room of requirement being given a full workout, but at all times of day outside of lesson and meal times, students could be seen practising outside.

Ginny, worried about them practising outside in all weathers, especially as it got colder, had taken the opportunity to speak to Lucilia about it, having caught her sneezing after returning, wet and cold, from a practice session in the rain.

"Mrs. Potter. The prefects discussed this. But as Marcus said, 'Do you think the Minister will decide not to attack us just because it's raining?' We have to be ready to fight in any conditions. Soon, when we think we're ready, we're going to ask permission to run practises at night."

Later, when Ginny told that to Harry, in the staff meeting, he looked at her with amazement. "You know, by not being here, Lucius and Gail have done something which we never managed last time."

"What's that?"

"They've united the houses."

Hermione added, "Haven't you noticed? The house tables are meaningless now. Half the school sits with friends at other tables now."

"You know they even asked me to cancel quidditch?" said Harry.

"What?" shouted Ron.

Harry laughed. "Don't worry. I told them no. In fact there's going to be more quidditch. The staff can't be seen to get involved in battle training, but we can supervise more quidditch, for everyone, not just the house teams. And it's the best advanced flying training there is. And that's not mentioning the training with bludgers. I want you to organise handling all that, Ron. The other staff will make themselves available for you, you can't do it all by yourself."

Hermione asked, "Can we ask Florence to give lessons on first aid, magical and muggle, to everyone that wants them?"

"No," said Ginny. "They should be compulsory. Everyone should know how to heal a cutting curse or whatever."

Hermione and Florence quickly agreed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Less happy with the way things were going was the Minister. "Where are they?" he screamed in frustration.

More than one of his aides had suffered as a result of their "abject failure", as he put it, to find "two insignificant children".

"They haven't used magic since they used a cushioning charm in the Midlands, and that was before we knew they were gone."

"Tell me what I don't know. Someone must be shielding them. Two children can't survive on their own, especially without magic. Start bringing in anyone who has shown sympathies for the Potters for interviews. Start with anyone still working in the Ministry, then in the area where they must have left the train. If that doesn't work, bring in every muggle sympathiser and every muggleborn. I want results and I want them fast."

Thus began what became known later as the "English Inquisition."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lucius was woken by hammering on the door. "Up and Out! Breakfast in fifteen minutes."

As he came to, he was aware there were others looking at him. "Hi. I'm Lucius."

"What kind of name is that?" sneered one of the boys.

"Leave him alone, he's new," said the oldest.

"Suits me. Doesn't look much anyway." The sneering boy walked out.

"Hi. I'm James. You arrived in the night I assume?"

"Yeah, we were picked up in, I'm not sure where we were really."

James laughed. "Running away didn't go as planned then? It never does. Who were you running from. Abusive father?"

"Something like that." Lucius didn't think that James would believe or understand if he told him the truth, apart from it being illegal to do so. He remembered that Mary had said something about someone called Day Duty interviewing them today. He would have to speak to Gail to work out what to say.

Gail's day had started slightly earlier and more gently. She'd woken up as most of her dorm-mates had left the room and when she made her way to the showers, she found there was only cold water.

"You have to get here first if you want hot water in the morning," another girl explained. It might have been the girl who had spoken to her the night before as she got into bed, but she wasn't sure.

That explains the comments about hot water and the time of day, Gail thought. Having showered late the night before, Gail decided to skip the cold shower and went back to get dressed, then followed the others down to breakfast. The boys were already eating and Lucius looked up to say "Hi" to Gail. She slid in beside him.

"New kid's got a girlfriend!" said the boy who had sneered earlier. "You doing her yet?"

Lucius was about to answer angrily, when Gail got in before him. "None of your business," she replied, leaning over to kiss a rather-startled Lucius on the cheek.

Breakfast was a simple affair, a choice of cereals and toast and marmalade, and also plenty of rather weak tea.

"We need to get together afterwards," Lucius whispered to Gail.

"Some obviously think we already are," Gail smirked.

"I mean to talk. To get our stories straight."

As if to prove his point at this point Mrs. Pearson entered. "You two will be needed in the office at ten. The others will show you where it is." She walked out again without bothering to wait for a reply.

After breakfast, Lucius and Gail went outside as it was the only place they could find with some privacy to talk. "What do we tell them?" Gail asked.

"Not our real surnames, that's for sure."

"Okay, how about Smith?"

"Why Smith."

"They'll guess it's fake, but they won't know who we are. They think we're runaways, let them keep thinking that."

"It's only for a few months anyway," said Lucius.

"What do you mean?"

"End of January, I'm seventeen. Then I can use magic without it being traced and I can train again."

"What about me?"

"You can't."

"I know that. So what am I supposed to go, Go back to Hogwarts? You can't send me back, I won't let you."

"Gail. I don't want you to go, ever. You just can't use magic yet."

Both of them seemed startled at Lucius' words. Had he really said that? After a crazy time when they couldn't seem to keep their hands off of each other, they seemed to have become so busy with training that they'd settled into hardly seeing each other outside of training again. Neither of them were quite sure what their relationship was, but now...

"I don't want to leave you, ever," Gail finally replied when she recovered enough to find her voice. Then she kissed him, and it was much more of a kiss than in the dining room earlier.

When they finally parted, Lucius did what Gail had dreamed of since the previous January in the hospital wing, the only previous time he'd done it. He told her, "I love you, Gail."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Author's note...**

**Nobody spotted the error (now corrected) in the last chapter, first I said that the head girl was an Hufflepuff, then Luna referred to her as a Ravenclaw.**

**Please review.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-seven. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**RECAP.**

**Gail and Lucius are in a muggle children's home.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The meeting they had been dreading was longer than they had expected. "Come in, come in. There's nothing to be afraid of. We just want to get to know you."

Gail suppressed the thought "THAT'S what we're afraid of," and followed Lucius in the room, taking his hand for reassurance. He turned and smiled at her, but she could see it was a very forced smile.

"Your parents must be very worried about you," the woman began.

Gail laughed.

"You may not believe it right now, but I'm sure it's true."

"My parents are dead. I have no relatives."

"Then who did you live with?"

"I'm sorry. I'm not going to say," Gail replied, thinking "and you wouldn't believe me if I did."

The woman frowned and turned towards Lucius. "Then how about you young man, Lucius, isn't it?"

"Sure, his father loved him so much he tried to kill him," Gail sneered before a warning look from Lucius could stop her. "That's why he was in hospital so long afterwards, so they could save his life."

The social worker looked shocked, but then immediately asked, "What hospital was this?" There had to be records of this, she was sure.

"I cannot tell you," Lucius replied truthfully.

"Now see here. You have to tell us. We need to reunite you with... whoever you were living with."

"Did you ever think that maybe we ran away because we don't want to live with whoever we were living with?" asked Gail.

"That's beside the point. Someone has responsibility for you."

Lucius smiled. "That would seem to be you now, wouldn't it?"

"Now, lots of teenager lovers run away so they can be together. These things can be worked out."

Gail smirked, trying not to laugh.

The frustrated social worker spent another half an hour trying to get more information from them, before leaving, unsatisfied.

She couldn't pinpoint Gail's accent, but Lucius had a distinct London accent. She would start with the hospitals there. Look for any record of a young man brought in after being injured at home in a possible violent incident. She sighed. It was going to be a long search.

Lucius and Gail had left the meeting satisfied that they had given no clue that could be followed up.

They were then left free until lunchtime. In the afternoon, as they weren't enrolled in the local school, they were given odd jobs to do to help around the house.

To Gail's surprise, Lucius didn't seem to mind this. She commented on it to him. "So you don't mind being a house elf then?" she joked.

His reply was much more serious than her light-hearted question, "We're together. We're safe. And Hogwarts is safe. If that means we have to do some cleaning, that's fine with me."

Gail nodded and turned her face away so that he wouldn't see her tears. Lucius wasn't fooled, but said nothing.

The first few evenings, they were subjected to a lot more questions, but this time from the other children at the home, but the questions eventually stopped when it became obvious that neither Lucius nor Gail were going to say anything about their past.

The two "children" quickly discovered that they were two of the oldest at the children's home, so for the most part they did not suffer from any of the bullying which tends to happen in any institution. When one of the older boys attempted to force his attentions on Gail, she had just used a well-placed knee to prevent him when one of the staff happened along.

Shortly after that, Lucius, showing a physical strength the others hadn't expected, taught that particular boy a lesson he wouldn't forget. The message was clear. Leave Lucius alone, and if you know what's good for you, don't even think about laying a hand on Gail.

Monday morning, one of the social workers came to take them to the local secondary school. As the school had no way of knowing how much they knew, Lucius and Gail found themselves spending the whole morning and the first hour of the afternoon doing written tests. Perhaps it should be described as attempting to do.

"I have to be honest," said the teacher tasked with evaluating the tests. "Whatever problems you have had at home have obviously affected your school work."

They learned that they knew almost nothing of history, physics and chemistry, very little of English literature and geography. They surprised the teacher by knowing some basic French, from the time they had spent in France. He had initially formed the impression that their intelligence may not have been too bright. Either that, or they just hadn't been interested in lessons.

But their knowledge of mathematics was extremely good, though with some notable exceptions, which proved the poor intelligence idea to be false. Lucius and Gail privately put this down to their studies in Astronomy and especially Ancient Runes, where mathematical calculations were essential. They were also marked fairly highly on English language, which they put down to Hermione's insistence, followed by the other staff, that all essays should be written with good spelling and grammar.

"Well, you've definitely given me a timetabling problem," the teacher admitted. "If it wasn't for your scores in maths and English, I would have to put you with the first years, despite your age, but your maths is a higher level than most of our upper sixth years and your English is about the same at the lower sixth. If you come back tomorrow, I should have worked out a timetable for you."

Being put with the younger students was something Gail found humiliating, especially when some of the other children at the home teased both Lucius and Gail about it. Lucius, to her surprise, didn't find it humiliating.

"Why doesn't it bother you?" she asked him after their third day at the school.

"My father was wrong," he replied. "Muggles aren't stupid or inferior. Chemistry was really interesting, but I couldn't make head or tail out of physics. If they are so stupid, how can they understand it when I can't?"

"Perhaps because they've been taught it from earlier?"

"Not much earlier. One of them said they only started physics when they came here." Lucius hadn't noticed the odd look he'd got from the boy he'd asked about that. After all everyone knew you started proper physics and chemistry when you started secondary school.

Once the initial teasing was over, both Lucius and Gail found that they actually quite liked muggle school. In the lessons where they were with younger children, their age difference soon began to seem less important, and in mathematics, both Lucius and Gail had a taste of what it was like to be Hermione, as others began to come to them for help with their homework.

Before the school broke up for the Christmas break, the teacher that had tested them before, had made them take another series of tests.

"You've done well," he said, looking rather surprised. "If you don't mind doing a lot of reading over the holidays, I think we might be able to move you up a year in most of your subjects. It might mean a few catch up classes after school."

Gail nodded brightly. "Okay," she said, cheerfully.

Christmas was a sad time at the home. The staff did their best to make it cheerful and bright, but lack of funds didn't help.

Most of the children there missed the families they had lost, even if some came from abusive homes that made Gail cringe. She found that she wasn't the only one crying in bed on Christmas night.

Gail remained very subdued and tearful right through the New Year, until finally Lucius gave up trying to cheer her up and just held her as she cried again.

"I miss them so much," she said.

"You could go back," he suggested.

"No. I'm not leaving you," she cried. "Anyway, they wouldn't be safe if I went back."

Lucius wanted to argue. He couldn't bear to see Gail so unhappy and he felt totally helpless. Neither of them were sure when what started as a comforting hug became something more.

"We have to stop," Lucius forced himself to say.

"I don't want to stop," Gail murmured.

"No. You're too young."

"Not according to Fleur. I'm old enough to get married in some countries."

Lucius laughed, which was the wrong thing to do as it made Gail angry. She stormed off leaving him standing. But he thought he preferred her to be angry to being so upset.

Although she never mentioned what had happened, or not happened, Gail seemed to be annoyed with him until they returned to school in January. Then he noticed that she was spending more time than previously with the other older girls. Some of them were looking at him and giggling.

"What was all that about?" he asked Gail, he asked Gail when he managed to get her alone.

"Nothing," she denied innocently. Lucius wasn't convinced.

Gail seemed to have restarted her old tricks of flirting with him and teasing. But his seventeenth birthday was just around the corner and Lucius was determined that not even Gail was going to distract him from what he had to do. If he could just prepare himself enough that he could beat his father before Gail even became of age, perhaps he could keep her safe. And if that meant no distractions, then that was what he was determined to do.

Gail had no idea what was going through his mind. Her old lack of confidence had reared its ugly head and she was rapidly beginning to think that he would never really love her. She wasn't helped by some acidic comments from a few of the other girls at school about her lack of success in seducing him.

On his seventeenth birthday, Gail had organised a small party for him after school, but Lucius didn't even show. She finally caught him sneaking back into the home at three the following morning.

"Where have you been?" She asked angrily.

"Shh. You'll wake everyone."

"I don't care. Where?" she snapped.

"Training," he answered.

"You missed your party."

He did actually look sorry at that. "Oh, I forgot."

Gail turned and went to bed. She didn't speak to him for three days and seemed to be avoiding him.

Finally, he managed to catch her alone. "Gail. I'm sorry I upset you. But this is important..."

"You think I don't know that?" she snapped.

"I know you do. It's just I can't waste a minute." He looked like he had the weight on his shoulders and suddenly she understood.

"You can't blame yourself."

"I don't," he assured her. "But every few days I take, there is someone else dead. Another family broken apart."

"How do you know? We haven't had the Prophet, not that it would say anyway."

"Don't you ever read the muggle papers?"

"Not really, no."

"They don't hide stuff like the Prophet. They don't understand, but they say what's happening. Mysterious deaths virtually every week."

"It isn't your fault."

"No. It wasn't Harry's fault either. But there are still some who blame him for taking so long to get rid of Voldemort. I just can't waste a moment. Do you understand?"

Gail nodded. "I don't have to like it though."

"No," he almost grinned. "You don't have to like it."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As February wore on into March, Lucius had another worry. As much as he hated to admit it, training on his own just wasn't as effective as training with or against Gail. He thought seriously about returning to Hogwarts for a while, perhaps during the Easter break, but the idea of leaving Gail alone and vulnerable made him decide against that.

Gail had left him alone, in the sense that she had stopped constantly trying to seduce him. She'd told him bluntly, "I want you, but I won't be another burden on you. You don't need another pressure. If you ever have time to remember what you're fighting for, I'm here." She'd kept her word, which was almost as much of a surprise to Gail as it was to Lucius.

One night in late May, Lucius found Gail sitting alone outside as it was a warm evening. Neither of them could have said afterwards how it started, but they were both almost naked when they were startled by a fire alarm. Breathlessly, they scrambled back into their clothes before everyone else piled outside. It turned out to be a false alarm, a prank by one of the younger kids at the home.

When everyone had gone back inside again, Gail tried to lead Lucius back to their quiet hiding place. "No," he said. "We wouldn't be able to stop ourselves."

"I don't want to stop," Gail replied, trying to be coy and only succeeding in sounding snappy.

"You're too young. You're not ready."

Gail recoiled from his words like he had slapped her, and stormed inside the home.

Their relationship was strained again throughout June, but Gail finally began to thaw towards him in the first week of July.

He decided to organise a small birthday party for Gail, although he wasn't at all sure she'd appreciate it from him. But it was either that or ignoring her birthday and he wasn't going to do that.

To his relief, she seemed to enjoy her birthday party and hugged him warmly afterwards. "I want one more present," she said.

"What?" he asked, curious.

"Do you love me?" she asked, quite seriously.

"You know I do."

"You don't say it as much lately."

"Well, I do." He didn't want to say that he was scared of telling her in case she tried to take things further.

"Make love to me. Tonight. Before you say I'm too young, I'm not. I'm sixteen. We're living as muggles, and it's legal at sixteen. Please? Just once? We don't know what's ahead, and if I lose you without even..." Before she knew where she was she was crying.

She been determined not to cry, as she'd been convinced that crying would make him see her as younger than she was and put him off. To her surprise, it had the opposite effect.

Of course it wasn't just once. A line, once crossed, is almost impossible not to cross again. Lucius might have felt guilty for the "wasted" time, except that somehow his training was actually improving, although not as much as he wanted.

A few months later, a weekend of "natural" disasters brought a sudden change to his plans. "I think we have to return to Hogwarts," he told her. "I need you to train with me, and we can't wait another year."

"That might be difficult," she replied.

"Why? You look like you could do with the exercise."

"Before you say it, I'm not getting fat, I'm pregnant."

"You're what?"

Realising that his shout had scared her, he backed off a little. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I don't think the charms work as well, when only the man does then," she said miserably. "I've spoiled everything, haven't I?"

"You haven't. In any case, I think I was probably involved. Wasn't I?" He added in a teasing tone.

Gail managed a smile.

"How long have you known?"

"For sure? Two days. I managed to get a muggle test. I've suspected it for almost two months. I wanted to tell you, but..."

"You were scared."

She nodded. "Can we wait till Christmas to go back?"

"I suppose so. Why?"

"I can't face everyone knowing, all at once."

But that was another plan that had to be changed just six weeks later. By then of course, the staff in the home had figured it out and they'd both received a telling off from the home warden. They came out grinning. They had expected far worse, but she had obviously been impressed by Lucius and his determination to stand by Gail, no matter what.

It had been a little awkward at school, but up to that point she had been able to attend classes as usual, avoiding some of the more strenuous exercises in gym class.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"We've found them."

"Where?"

"Living as muggles. They're in a muggle children's home."

"It took long enough. How did you find them after all this time?"

"It was luck," his aide admitted. "They were taken by their school on a school trip to a museum in London. Someone recognised Lucius and he reported it to us hoping for a reward."

"Who?"

"Just someone who knew them at school. Why?"

"Kill him tonight. I don't want anyone to know we know. We attack the home tomorrow night."

The following night Lucius and Gail were awoken by screams. The front door had been broken down and by chance there had been a couple of the younger teenage children kissing in the privacy of the darkened front hallway. They screamed loud enough to alert the whole home until their screams died away suddenly. Lucius and Gail realised afterwards how lucky they had been. If those two children hadn't screamed Lucius and Gail would have been killed in their sleep without a chance tod defend themselves.

Within seconds of the screaming, both staff and children were pouring into the hall. Lucius spotted Gail, ready with her wand. He grabbed her hand and led her towards the back door.

"We have to stop them," she screamed, trying to pull away from him.

"There's too many. They've seen us. If we get away, maybe they'll follow us and leave the others alone."

They ran as fast as Gail could manage, and Lucius was right, the deatheaters were following them. Lucius stopped suddenly, startling Gail.

After an uncomfortable sensation, she looked around her. They were far away.

"Are you okay?" Lucius asked.

Still scared, Gail nodded. "When did you learn...?"

"To apparate? My other training wasn't working very well, so I tried this. I even side-alonged with a few animals."

"You taught yourself? Without anyone to help? That's so dangerous."

"It worked, didn't it?" then his defiant tone changed. "I just hope the baby is alright."

As a location to apparate to, Lucius had picked one of the barns they had slept in when they had first left Hogwarts and he insisted that Gail sleep. He would keep watch. Of course she couldn't sleep any more than he could, but after what felt like hours lying awake, reliving the nightmare they had just escaped, sleep took her.

When she awoke, she was alone. It was getting light. "Lucius?" she called quietly, scared to make too much noise. He was gone.

When he apparated back to her a short time later, she punched him. "You idiot. I thought they'd got you..." she started ranting, then saw his ashen face.

"They went back," he gasped. "They killed them all. Staff, children, all of them."

Gail couldn't answer. She was too numb. Finally she said, "Are you okay to apparate us to Hogsmead?"

He nodded. "I think so."

He took her hand and minutes later Lucius and Gail, still badly shaken, but somehow unsplinched, were beginning the walk from the village to Hogwarts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The door at the end of the Great Hall opened and Lucius and Gail entered the hall. The normally chattering gradually faded to silence as the students saw who it was and then started again excitedly as they saw Gail's very obviously pregnant belly.

The castle elves quickly laid two more spaces at the Slytherin table and Lucius and Gail sat down to eat, ignoring the barrage of questions they faced.

When the meal was over, Gail turned to Lucius and said, "I guess we can't put it off any longer."

They got up and walked over to where Harry and Ginny were sitting.

"I guess we need to talk, Sir," Lucius began.

"You could say that," snapped Ginny, angrily.

"In private. Upstairs," said Harry, rapidly.

Gail held Lucius' hand as they followed Harry and Ginny up to their quarters. Lucius wasn't sure whether she needed reassurance, or whether she was trying to reassure him, but her touch was welcome either way.

Once inside the Potters' private quarters, Ginny turned to Lucius and said, "So this is why you two went away."

Slightly more quietly, Harry had said, "We trusted you with our daughter."

Gail had already heard enough. "Lay off Lucius right now, or, baby or no baby, I walk back out of here and you'll never see this daughter again."

Shocked at the venom in her voice they quietened down, but Ginny couldn't resist saying, "I thought we'd brought you up better than this, getting pregnant when you should still be at school."

"Mum. I love you, but you don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"What do you expect me to say? You've both sneaked off for a year so you could have some dirty little affair..."

Her raised voice what cut off by a sharp slap from Gail. "We didn't sneak off to have sex. We left because we knew you were all at risk every moment we were here. After the attack on Beauxbatons, we knew we'd never forgive ourselves if any of you were killed because of us. Yes. We discovered we love each other. What's wrong with that?"

"Couldn't you have waited at least?" Ginny pleaded. "You're too young."

"Mum. I'm sixteen. If I was a muggle, that's old enough to get married."

"You could have at least waited until you could finish school... You've got your whole lives..."

Gail cut her off again. "Our whole lives? Just one minor problem. Remember the prophecy? Four will fight, only one survive?" Gail's tone, which had been as angry as Ginny's had been, suddenly softened. "We don't know how long we will have together. You two have had a lifetime together. We will never have that. Mum, please don't hate us for loving each other while we still can."

Ginny almost burst into tears, not just at the words, but at the plea in Gail's face. "I don't hate you. Either of you," she added. "I just wish things were different."

"So do we, Mum."

"So, why have you come back to us now?" asked Harry.

"My father found us," Lucius replied, the first time he had spoken since the argument had begun. "He just killed everyone where we were living."

Harry could tell there was a lot he wasn't saying, but understood there was time for details later. "So what are you doing now?" he asked.

"Mainly, we're here so Gail can have the baby safely," answered Lucius.

"But after that," Gail warned, "as soon as I can travel again, we are going again."

"With a tiny baby?" cried Ginny.

"No, Mum. I as hoping you could look after the baby."

"You're place is with him here, or her," insisted Ginny.

"And I'd be putting him or her in danger every minute I stay. Mum, this is hard enough. Please don't make it any harder."

Ginny nodded, her anger gone. She put her arms around both Gail and Lucius. "Welcome home. Now get off to the hospital wing and get yourself checked over. Florence is going to go spare."

The day went by in a daze for both Lucius and Gail. They'd spent half of it telling Harry and Ron what had happened the night before.

Before they went to bed that night, in Gail's old room in the Potter quarters, Gail spoke quietly to Ginny. "Thank you. I never even hoped you'd let Lucius stay with me."

"I think it's a bit late to worry about that, don't you?" grinned Ginny, patting Gail's abdomen. "Anyway, I can see it in your eyes."

"What?"

"How much you love each other. Promise me you'll take every moment of happiness you can. You both deserve it."

"Thanks, Mum." Gail gave Ginny a quick hug, or as best as she could with her bump in the way, and went to bed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

**Author's note...**

**Sorry this took so long, the first half seemed to take forever to write. I hope this extra long chapter was worth the wait.**

**Please review.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-eight. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J., her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**Author's note...**

** I wasn't happy with some of the previous chapter so I have rewritten some of it, especially around the part from Gail announces that she is pregnant up to when the children's home is attacked. If you are saving this story, you might want to download it again.**

**RECAP.**

** Gail and Lucius have returned to Hogwarts. Gail is expecting a baby.**

With more muggle students than ever having to stay in Hogwarts over Christmas as their parents had left the country during the growing number of attacks, the place was rapidly gaining the atmosphere of a huge party as the students were obviously trying to put the worsening situation outside far from their minds.

With so many in a frivolous mood, it was inevitable that the newly returned Lucius and Gail should be the target of many pranks.

"You know," said Gail to Lucius one evening, when they were finally alone, "this would really have annoyed me before we went away."

Lucius looked at her trying to wash the doughy mixture of flour and water and something rather smelly and green out of her hair and laughed. "And now."

"I'm just glad to be home."

"Good. Just hurry up in the shower, I'm still standing out here covered in," he paused to sniff his arm, "I don't know what."

"You could always join me."

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea."

"Lucius. I'm pregnant, not ill. Now come and join me."·

So he did.

"Oh. Lucius."

"Yes?"

"I might be glad to be home, but this still needs..."

"Payback," they finished together.

To Lucius and Gail, it seemed that the castle elves were determined to outdo themselves that Christmas. At one point, Gail reminded them that she was eating for two, not five, much to the elves' amusement.

At Harry's insistence, all training had been suspended for two weeks over Christmas. "The time to relax and remember what you are fighting for is just as important," he told Lucius and Gail seriously, either not noticing or ignoring the "told you so" look Gail gave Lucius when he said that.

"When I had to face Voldemort the last time, the only thing which kept me going was thinking of the Weasleys and the fun we had had, and my friends, like Hermione, Neville, Luna. Whatever happened, if Voldemort was gone, they could go on with their lives without fear. And Ginny, of course, to my dying day I'll never forget that kiss."

"Eew," said Gail, to Harry's laughter.

Despite their attempts to relax and enjoy themselves, Lucius and Gail couldn't shake the sorrow at what had happened at the children's home. A fire had destroyed the place and the evidence and they knew the muggle enquiry would never come up with anything. The fire had burned so hot, much to the muggles astonishment, that most of the bodies were burned completely to ash, so the disappearance of Lucius and Gail had gone unnoticed.

The new year came and went and the new term started. The welcome back dinner had started in a rather sombre mood until a small number of the students seemed to be stuck to their chairs, and were having trouble eating. Every time they tried to bring a mouthful of food to their mouths, they found that it splattered over their faces and hair instead.

By the end of the desert course, the other students decided to join in and the stuck students were soon covered in food of every description. Strangely, instead of the bowls with left-overs disappearing as usual, they were being refilled with cream, ice-cream, raspberry and chocolate sauce, and it wasn't long before the hall degenerated into a huge food fight.

Lucius and Gail were puzzled. They'd charmed the utensils their victims were trying to use to eat, but how had all those extra deserts appeared?

"Harry," scolded Ginny.

"What?"

"You know what."

Harry grinned. "Well, it certainly broke the atmosphere, didn't it?" He stood up and his voice suddenly boomed. "ENOUGH! SILENCE!"

Everybody stopped at once. One badly aimed(?) bowlful of cream was still flying through the air and seemed to turn in mid air to land on Harry. The students tried not to laugh. Ginny had no such inhibitions. Harry turned to her and said, "I'll deal with you later."

"Promises, promises," she smirked.

"Now everyone. To the showers. Then you come back here and clean up. The muggle way. The castle elves are not to help you."

There was a collective groan as they went to the showers, leaving the few initial, now unrecognisable, victims still stuck to their chairs.

"I supposed I could leave them there," mused Harry.

"No," said Ginny firmly. "Anyhow, they'll get out of having to clean up, if they're just sitting there." She waved her wand at them and the sticking spell was broken. "Good charm work though," she commented, impressed. "Now are you going to wipe that cream off your face and come and charm me?"

What followed after that would definitely have had Gail saying "Eew."

When they first returned to Hogwarts just before the school broke up for the Christmas holidays, they were too upset to take much notice of the changes, but as the new term started, they couldn't help but notice that, despite an increase in pranking, there was a seriousness which hadn't been there before.

The other obvious, and almost unbelievable change, was the mixture of students on what had previously been the house tables.

When Marcus Brant from Hufflepuff and Lucilia Bones from Ravenclaw caught Lucius and Gail leaving dinner on their second evening, they asked, "How do you like the new Hogwarts?"

"Why the changes?"

Ignoring the question, Lucilia asked Lucius, "What are you going to do after the baby is born?"

"By that time Gail will be almost seventeen. We're going to wait till her seventeenth birthday, then go away again."

"Why?"

"You know why. It's not safe for any of you with us here. Did you hear what happened at the orphanage?"

"Yes. But they couldn't defend themselves. We can. We will."

"I can't let that happen." Lucius began to walk away, but Marcus grabbed him by the arm.

"This isn't just your fight. This is our future too. Look around you. Every house working and training together. Do you have any idea what that took? Do you think we've put aside centuries of rivalry and sometimes hatred to sit here and do nothing? Get it into your head. You are not alone in this."

"I can't..."

"Can't what? Lead us? I doubt that."

"I'd be responsible..."

"That's crap and you know it. Fighting alone, if you too are killed, we've lost. What future then for us, or for your baby, or any other babies still to be born?" snapped Lucilia.

Lucius felt Gail squeeze his hand. "You're right. But only we can face my father."

"Don't worry," replied Marcus. "You're welcome to him. But I'm sure there'll be a few deatheaters left for us."

With Gail unable to train, Lucius found himself more and more training with Lucilia and Marcus, so much so that Harry wondered aloud whether these two were the other two from the four in the prophecy.

"I'm not sure," Hermione had replied. "We still don't know exactly what it means."

Lucius had overheard that conversation and went to Marcus and Lucilia in his next training session. "I don't want you too training with me all the time."

"Why?"

"If you two are the other two in the prophecy..." He left the rest unsaid.

Marcus and Lucilia clearly hadn't thought of that and it took them a few moments to think.

Finally Lucilia replied, "If we are the other two, then stopping training with us won't change that. If we're not, you need us anyway."

"I don't know whether it means us or not," replied Marcus frankly. "But we could die fighting deatheaters anyway. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to die. But if I have to, I'd rather die for something that's worth fighting for. You have no right to try to take that from us."

Lucius answered with a stunning spell aimed at both of them, which they narrowly blocked. There followed one of the most intense training sessions ever. Despite the fact that Lucius was growing in speed and skill rapidly, and it took Marcus and Lucilia together to be make it anything like a real training session, he found it harder and harder to beat them as they were also advancing in their duelling skills. The session ended with Lucius "tied" by invisible ropes to one of the posts in the room. They correctly took his nod of surrender as acceptance. Lucius left for a shower, leaving an exhausted Lucilia and Marcus still standing in the room.

Gail, who had been watching the whole time, said simply, "Thank you."

"Huh?"

"For what you are doing for him. For what I can't do right now."

Lucilia smiled. "I'd say, you're welcome, but this isn't only for him, it's for all of us, including this little one," she gently tapped Gail on the tummy.

Gail's baby was due in late May, and as May began she frequently complained that she felt more like a beached whale than a witch.

Her condition, of course, had not gone unnoticed outside of Hogwarts. Within hours of their return to Hogwarts, the Minister had been informed.

"I want to know the moment she goes into labour."

"Why?"

"There's no better time to attack. Their two best duellers will be vulnerable. The mudblood won't be able to fight, and the traitor will be distracted."

"What about Potter?"

"He's old now. But I still want him out of there. Organise an attack on his family again, don't waste too many on it, just enough to draw him away. Then we attack Hogwarts. My spies are ready? They can make wards strong enough?"

"Yes. The moment Potter's away, they can go into action."

"Good, and only the headmaster of Hogwarts could break those wards."

"The target?"

"The brat. If you can kill the mudblood as well, so much the better. But I want the brat dead. If I know Lucius, it'll break him, make him careless. And if you kill the brat in front of its mother, even if you don't get the mudblood herself, she'll be useless. Then I get him."

The deatheaters' reign of terror became even worse as May rolled on. The Minister's wife, Frederica Snidler, having long ago given up any pretence of defending the people against attacks, now led most of them.

She was notoriously cruel, reminding Ginny of Belatrix. Like Belatrix, she liked to play with her victims before killing them. Her tortures, which even the Minister found distasteful, were more feared that the Minister himself. A side-effect of this was that most deatheaters feared her and didn't like fighting alongside her. Ron, who had figured that out from studying reports from survivors, decided that this was a major Achilles heel in the Minister's battle plans.

"It's beginning," Florence said. "I'll get her to the hospital wing."

"I'm coming with her," said Lucius.

Florence smiled. They'd talked about this. It wasn't normal for wizards to be present at the births of their children, but when she'd learned that she was pregnant, Gail had read everything she could on pregnancy and childbirth. The childrens' home had had a few books on the subject as pregnancies weren't exactly unheard of. Gail had found out that in the muggle world, most father's assisted at the birth, at least helping to comfort their wives. She let slip to Lucius that she thought that was wonderful and he'd decided there and then that he would be with her.

Despite comments from some wizards about it being unmanly, and who wanted to be in there with all that mess anyway? Lucius had stuck by his decision. The fact that most of the girls, apart from a few who couldn't bear the idea of any man seeing them like that, thought it was romantic, made Florence suspect that Lucius was setting a new trend in the wizarding world.

Within an hour of Gail's admission to the Hospital wing, the deatheaters attacked Beauxbatons. Without hesitation, Harry and Ginny flooed away, despite Ron's warnings that it might be a trap for them.

Once he had heard that Harry and Ginny were deeply involved in the fighting in France, the Minister apparated with his deatheaters to Hogsmead. Much to his growing irritation, it took almost two hours to amass everyone together for the final assault on Hogwarts, but finally they were ready.

As the deatheaters approached Hogwarts, wards fell in place preventing students leaving their own towers (or dungeons in the case of Slytherin), and most of the staff too found themselves unable to leave their rooms. The floos were blocked too, so no word could get out. Apart from a few stray students, quickly killed, the deatheaters walked into Hogwarts without even a battle.

"The Minister sneered. "And they say I am not as strong as Voldemort. I've done what Voldemort could never do. Hogwarts is mine for the taking. Frederica, you go first. Kill the mudblood before she can give birth or both if it's already been born. And Frederica..."

"Yes, my dear?"

"Don't waste time playing with her or the brat if it's born. I don't want to take any chances. I want them dead."

Frederica grimaced, but nodded.

The only fireplace the Minister's student helpers had been unable to block, as they'd been unable to access the room it was in, was the floo in the headmaster's office. While Frederica headed for the hospital wing, the Minister began breaking through the wards protecting that office, ensuring that Harry could not come back that way, nor bring in reinforcements that way.

Two members of staff were not locked in their room. The attack on the Potters and Weasleys in France had brought back hard memories for Ron and he had slipped away before the attack to the memorial to talk to Fred, as he still did from time to time. Hermione had seen him go, and quietly followed him, knowing that he needed to be alone at that moment, but that he needed her too.

So it was that, from a short distance away, they had both seen the takeover of Hogwarts. "Oh, Merlin. Gail!" cried Hermione.

"Come on," Ron yelled. "We have to stop them."

They ran into the castle and straight into deatheaters. Totally outnumbered, they stood and fought, until Ron told Hermione. "You have to get away."

"I'm not leaving you."

"They must have locked the students in somehow. Breaks the wards. Let them out. I can't do that, Hermione."

But Hermione, rather than heading for the student towers, first went to the staff quarters. The student wards were good, but no match for Hermione's spell-work, and Luna and Neville and the other teachers were soon released.

Ron had decoyed some of the deatheaters outside as they ran to finish him off. Suddenly they found themselves caught between Ron, with year of experience as a senior auror, and Luna, Neville and the other staff.

After releasing the students, Hermione tried again to get through to the hospital wing, but without success. Marcus asked her to send every owl to parents and to Harry to get help, while the prefects made a concentrated attempt to reach the hospital.

Their timing was unlucky. At that moment the Minister, having destroyed the entire fireplace in the headmaster's office, was making his way to the hospital wing. This time it was the students caught in the crossfire, and in less than five minutes, every one of the prefects was dead.

Frederica wasn't having it so easy, however. Gail had given birth amazingly quickly for a first birth, and though her movements were slow and limited, her spell work was not. Lucius and Gail held Frederica at bay easily.

Then the Minister burst into the fray. The four of them were paired off, Lucius against his father, Gail against Frederica. All four knew without a doubt this was to the finish.

At first it seemed that the Minister and Frederica would win easily, but whereas Lucius and Gail, from the years of training together, instinctively warned each other if they saw a vulnerability in the other's position, the Minister and his wife did not.

After what seemed like forever, Lucius could sense that his father was tiring. The spells he was casting weren't quite as accurate as they had been before and the few that struck his own shield made less of an impact. Despite his own misgivings, he was actually getting the better of his father.

Totally absorbed with his battle with his father, Lucius didn't see that Gail, finding a strength that she hadn't known she had, had finally defeated Frederica Snidler, taking her out of the battle for good with a devastating cutting curse. Nor did he see Gail turn towards him, raise her wand and cry out "Stupefy".

He just felt her stunner spell hit him from behind, and then he collapsed and knew nothing more.

Seeing Gail attack and stun Lucius left the Minister almost as stunned as his son for a moment, then his face contorted into a ghastly grin and he turned his wand on Gail.

**Author's note...**

** Please review.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Prophecy Repeated, chapter twenty-nine. **

**Disclaimer:-**

**Harry Potter belongs to J.K.Rowling, her various publishers and Warner Brothers. This story and any new characters belong to me.**

**Author's note**

**To anyone who thought it unbelievable that Gail could duel only hours after giving birth, I give the comment at the end of a long post on childbirth problems in a forum I belong to. It kinda puts things into perspective... "Remember that the majority of women in the world give birth in field and have to go on working afterwards." I'm not sure the "majority" bit is accurate, but certainly many have to do exactly that.**

**RECAP.**

**In a battle with the Minister, Gail has turned on Lucius and stunned him, leaving him unconscious and now the Minister is ready to kill her.**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The wards preventing entry to the house and ground collapsed with an explosive crash that could probably have been heard for miles.

Harry and Ginny raced up to the house, followed by a small impromptu army of parents and local residents. Harry and Ginny could not believe what they had just seen through the big windows of the hospital wing. Gail had just stunned Lucius, taking him out of the battle.

Shocked, both wondering why Gail would attack Lucius, leaving him at the mercy of the Minister, Harry and Ginny ran into the castle and, ignoring the battle raging around them, headed straight for the hospital wing.

As they burst through the door, a tremendous flash of light flew from Gail's wand and Minister Collins glowed for a moment and literally seemed to vaporise. The last thing they heard from him was his voice shouting one last curse.

They realised that whatever spell Gail has cast had used all her strength and her shield had collapsed before the Minister's last curse reached her. It looked like a purple flame which brought back terrible memories to both of them. Gail screamed as it hit her and a second or two later she collapsed, all her strength gone.

As she collapsed Hermione and Ron entered the room. Both raced to Gail. Hermione did a quick medical scan, and looked up distraught.

"It's okay," said Gail. "I know."

"What?" asked Harry.

"Most of her internal organs are destroyed," Hermione. "It was the same spell Antonin Dolohov used in the Department of Mysteries, only this was far more powerful."

"We need to get her to St. Mungo's," said Harry.

"It's too late," Gail said.

Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Ron, Hermione, please go and look after Lucius. I need to talk with Dad and Mum alone."

Reluctantly Hermione and Ron left Gail's side to go to revive Lucius. Gail's stunning spell was so powerful that Hermione was unable to revive him with Rennervate. "We'll just have to wait for it to wear off," explained Hermione, "but he'll be okay."

"I saw what you did," Harry said. "Why, Gail?" he asked.

"I had to be the one to kill him, Dad. I know Lucius, you see. Despite everything, killing his own father would have destroyed him. He would never have got over it. And anyway, only one could survive, and I wanted to be sure it was Lucius. I just couldn't let him die. You do understand, don't you?" She sounded almost like she was begging.

Ginny said quietly, "Yes. We understand, darling."

"Thank you for taking me when nobody else wanted me. Don't be too sad. You gave me a life that's meant I've squeezed more into my last few years than most people do in a lifetime. I love you both so much."

Harry and Ginny just squeezed her hands.

With what seemed like a tremendous effort, Gail spoke again. "Dad. Can you do something for me? Please?"

"Anything," promised Harry.

"Look after Lucius for me. I love him so much and I just know he'll blame himself and it's not his fault. Tell him I want him to live, to find someone else to love and give little Gaby lots of brothers and sisters."

The effort of speaking was obviously taking most of the strength she had left and her voice was growing weaker.

"You will tell Lucius and Gaby how much I love them, won't you?"

Both Harry and Ginny nodded through their tears, but Gail didn't see their reply. She had gone.

Ginny hugged Gail to her chest for a moment, then lay her gently back down on the floor as Harry began to stand up.

"She called me Dad," he sobbed and he and Ginny hugged each other tightly as they sobbed, united in grief for their daughter.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EPILOGUE

The Ministry had been in disarray since Minister Collins had been killed. The Deputy Minister was an unprepossessing man chosen by the Minister simply so that he would have nobody too powerful, magically or politically, close to him so that they might later be a threat.

Four weeks had gone by and nobody had seen the Collins boy, and, other than a brief statement from Harry Potter, there had been no further news.

Hogwarts had suffered badly, with some staff and many students dead, including the entire group of senior prefects. Harry and his staff had ignored the politicking going on elsewhere and concentrated on comforting families and the other students. Hermione had even agreed to postpone the final exams. Nobody was in a fit state to take them.

There had been questions as to how Gail had managed to produce a spell strong enough to overcome the Minister's shield and kill him outright. Hermione pointed out that Gail seemed to have had the ability even as a child to channel all her magical energy in one burst, depleting herself to a critically low level, when the situation required it. It was one of those bursts which had killed her own father, years before, similar ones which had Lucius, and now her final burst had killed the Minister, but had left her defenceless in the process.

Almost a month after the second Battle of Hogwarts, as it had already become known, it was time for the Wizengamot to meet to formally elect a new Minister, who would take over exactly one month from the death of the previous incumbent. As usual there had been a lot of political gamesmanship involved.

The clerk formally opened the meeting. He was not a member of the Wizengamot, as this meeting had to be chaired by someone supposedly independent.

"I call this meeting of the Ancient and Honourable Council of the Wizengamot of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Colonies to order. As this is an extraordinary meeting, there are no minutes from the past meeting to be read. Before we move straight on to the only item on the agenda, I am required to ask are there any emergency motions to be considered."

There was a movement from the back. "Yes, I, Lucius Salazar Collins, claim my seat as the heir of the great and noble house of Collins."

"Are there any legal objections to this claim?" asked the clerk. "Then the claim of Lucius Salazar Collins is formally accepted. You may take your place as the recognised head of the house of Collins and the Wizengamot bid you welcome."

"As head of the house of Collins, I accept your welcome," replied Lucius, taking his seat.

"Are there any further emergency motions to be considered before we move on?"

Lucius stood again and walked to the front. "This is a motion for the dissolution and reform of this council. It is signed by the required number of heads to be considered a valid motion."

The clerk took a look at the first page. "This can be considered in an ordinary meeting of the Wizengamot. We don't have time for..." He suddenly became silent as Lucius waved his wand in his direction.

"I will be heard. We are about to elect the new leader of the wizarding world, or at least the new leader in this country. Four weeks ago today, the previous leader, a known dark lord and mass murderer, yet supported by most of you here, was finally killed. He was killed by a powerful muggleborn witch, Abigail Leona Findley, known to her family and friends as Gail. Yet, in spite of that, if she had survived, she would not only not be eligible to replace the Minister, she would not even be eligible for a seat in this council as she was muggleborn."

There was some muttering about that being only right and proper.

"If anyone else speaks before I am finished speaking, I will silence all of you, as I silenced the clerk there," Lucius warned.

"This is outrage..." began one, who tried to get up and found himself stuck to his seat, unable to speak.

"For many years, Hermione Weasley, née Granger, recognised throughout most of the world as one of the greatest witches of our age, tried under various ministers, to bring reform to this council. Most of those of you with pureblood, and many considered halfbloods, prevented that, wanting to keep your unfair and corrupt hold on power. This document you will pass today, will, from the moment it is signed by a two thirds majority, dissolve this Wizengamot and institute free and fair elections among the whole magical community, including not just muggleborns, but elves, centaurs, goblins, werewolves and every other magical being whose rights have been ignored and trampled on for centuries. It will also make discrimination based on race illegal. Now you may speak."

"We will never sign this," said one.

"Why should we?" said another.

"I will answer you in the only language you respect," replied Lucius. "Many of you supported my father because you believed in his racist philosophy. Others supported him out of fear. My politics may be different to my father's, but I am my father's son. Oppose this at your peril." The doors to the chamber, which were always open as a symbol of openness, slammed shut suddenly. "None of you will leave here until this is passed."

"How do we know it's even legal or properly drafted?"

"It was drafted by Hermione Weasley herself. I trust that answers that question."

"It will be overturned by the courts. You are forcing this by blackmail."

"As I am sure you know, the courts are forbidden from inquiring into how an Act of Council was passed. That is a matter for the council only. And after this is passed, this council will cease to exist. And anyway, there is nothing in the constitution of this council which forbids blackmail, something dark wizards and the richest families have used to their advantage for centuries."

"If we pass it, it will be chaos," came another objection. "No ministry until after this election of yours. Not even anyone to organise the election in the first place."

Lucius sneered at him. "Do you really think that Mrs. Weasley, known throughout this ministry for her attention to detail, would forget details like that? The Ministry will continue with its administrative functions until the results are declared."

Bill Weasley stood up. "As head of the house of Weasley, I formally second the motion, and will be proud to be the first to sign." He walked to the front, brought out a quill and signed the document. A few others moved to join him, but it was a small number.

"This will take time," Bill said quietly to Lucius.

"Stop it and call me when there we are two signatures short.," he replied.

Bill nodded. A door opened to allow Lucius to leave but slammed shut and sealed itself when others tried to follow.

It was nearly two days later when Bill floo-called Lucius, who was back at Hogwarts with Harry and Ginny.

"It's time," he said. "The fact that even the aurors couldn't break in to release them seems to have made up the minds of many of the more stubborn ones. You allowed them to reach the toilets, but nothing else. They are hungry and thirsty and tired. Some would probably sign away their family vaults to get out right now."

Lucius turned to Harry. "Sir, will you come with me to the Wizengamot, please?"

"No. I can't go back there," Harry replied.

"I need you to do something. Please. For Gail." For a moment Harry looked as if he'd been slapped, but he nodded and a few minutes later they were in the Ministry.

"How come you managed to seal it even against aurors?" Harry asked as the door opened to admit them.

"I used charms I learned from Bill and the goblins, together with some eleven magic as well. Bill, as a curse breaker, could have broken the charms, but the Ministry and the aurors always looked down on non wizarding magic, so they never learned how to beat it."

"I suspect that will change," replied Harry. "Now, what did you want me to do?"

"Follow me." Lucius walked to the front, with Harry close behind. Lucius signed the parchment in front of them. "Sir. We need one more signature to make this law. It is only right that you should do it, both for yourself, and in honour of Gail."

For a moment Harry's eyes misted and he had to wipe them so that he could see to sign.

When he finally bent down to sign, the clerk stood up, exhausted. "I declare this Act passed and this council dissolved.

The doors which had been sealed shut flung themselves open.

As most of the ex-members of the Wizengamot walked out, Ron and Hermione walked in. Hermione ran straight to Lucius and gave him one of her incredible hugs which almost took his breath away.

"That's got to be the first time someone was advanced to the Council and left it in the same meeting," laughed Ron.

"Actually it wasn't," Hermione contradicted him. "In the sixteenth century..." She stopped, realising that nobody was listening.

Harry and Ron were slapping Lucius on the back congratulating him. Ron offered him his right hand. "I never thought I'd say this, but today I'm proud to shake the hand of a Slytherin."

"Thank you," said Lucius, strangely quietly.

"Son," said Harry.

Lucius looked up, surprised. Harry had never called him that before. "Yes, sir?"

"A wise man, now long dead, once told me that the ones we love never really leave us. Not so long as they are here." His hand touched Lucius over his heart. "Wherever she is now, she will be proud of you today."

As they left the hall, they spotted Ginny. She had brought Gabrielle, and Gabrielle was holding the baby which Lucius and Gail had named after her.

"Just remember this," Gabrielle said. "Thanks to what you have done here today, this lovely bundle will never have to grow up under a dark lord."

"Maybe," said Hermione, seriously. "I hope Gabrielle is right, but evil will always try to find a way. Freedom will often be sacrificed for so-called reasons like national security. You must always keep a watch on those in power."

Ginny grinned at Ron and Bill. "Yes," she said, "Constant Vigilance."

When the laughter died down, Hermione bent over to whisper to Lucius. "Gail would have been proud of you today. Always remember that."

Taking his daughter in his arms, Lucius looked tearfully back at Hermione. "I will."

THE END.

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**Author's note...**

**Before anyone jumps on me for "killing off" Gail, the prophecy made it clear right back in chapter one, and this was repeated several time during the story – only ONE would survive.**

**Please review.**


	30. NIGHTLOCK

**From Brian Grove **

**Brian at rescueddoggies dot com**

**My apologies for this not being an update but I should let you know what's happening.**

** As most of you know, although I am British, I run a small animal refuge in Argentina in a rented house with about 1000m2 of land. Seven months ago I was warned that the owner had to sell the house and land the refuge is on by 2013 or 2014.**

** A few weeks ago, he informed me that a buyer had unexpectedly turned up already and the sale has gone through. This means that the rental contract will not be renewed and we have to leave by the 8th June THIS YEAR (2012)**

** Finding a place to rent with almost fifty dogs (and two cats) is virtually impossible To do so with very little money (I depend on donations) is even harder.**

** Someone offered me some land, but there is still the mammoth task of building a refuge, plus somewhere for me to live on land which doesn't even have a water supply or electricity at the moment (and forget a phone line or Internet!).**

** Now even that looks like falling through due to possible legal problems with the ownership status of the land.**

** So, in roughly fifty days, I and the animals will be homeless as no other refuge is in a position to take them.**

** After my beloved wife Sheila died, I wanted to follow her. Only the fact that I couldn't abandon the animals who were our family (she couldn't have kids), stopped me. Now, it seems that I will be forced to abandon them anyway, so there will be no reason to continue in a world I've come to hate.**

** Any inspiration for stories has left me. I can barely force myself through the daily routine of feeding the dogs, I spend most of my day (and over half the night) sitting at my computer, reading various stories, if I can concentrate that long, and waiting for the time to run out.**

** Anyone got any Nightlock?**_(For those who are Harry Potter fans but no Hunger Games fans, Nightlock are lethal berries in the first Hunger Games book, and the name is used for lethal poison capsules – suicide pills – in the third Hunger Games book.)_

**I'd like to thank all those who have followed my stories through the years, especially those of you who have taken the time to review.**

** It is still possible that (to coin an old literary phrase) "Something will turn up", but if it doesn't, and the odds are not in my favour in this, this is probably my final post on here.**


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